All Alone
by JasperAndJill
Summary: Skye and Austin, the accidental vampires, find themselves being taken in by the Cullens, but will a mistake from their past bring the formidable Volturi upon them? And can their fledgling love survive long enough for it to blossom fully? 50 years post BD.
1. Chapter 1

**Full Summary:**

**Austin and Skye were two normal teenagers who were changed by accident in the woods surrounding their small hometown. They only have each other as they try to cope with their new vampire abilities, until they decided to get out of the woods and head to Forks, in the hopes of finding a vampire coven that would take them in.**

**When they get to Forks, they run into the Cullens and move in with them, adhering to their vegetarian way of life quite easily. But, when it comes time for school to start, something major happens that could tear Austin and Skye apart. Plus, will a past mistake get them in trouble with the Volturi? Read to find out!**

**Hey everybody!! First off, thank you for checking out my story!**

**The chapters get better and better as they go on, so keep reading, and I promise you won't be disappointed.**

**Also, I would love to get some more reviews. Even if you don't make it through my whole story, I would love to hear your thoughts on it anyway.**

**Thanks, and I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All themes and characters related to Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. Only Skye and Austin belong completely to me.**

"Hey, Austin, we're gonna have to find a place to move today."

Austin dropped down from the top of the pine tree he had been sitting in, landing gracefully on his feet. His light blonde curls settled around his adorable baby face, and his large, round topaz eyes looked thoughtfully into mine. He sat down beside me on the pine needle covered forest floor and said, "I was thinking that too. But I don't really know where else we can go, Skye."

I ripped the needles in my hands apart and let the pieces float down from my palms. "Well, I'm _not_ staying here forever. So, I think it's time we put my plan to the test." I looked over at Austin, raising my eyebrows. He narrowed his eyes at me and puckered his mouth: his skeptical face. He wore it every time I brought up my "plan".

"Aww, c'mon. It'll work, and you know it. Plus, we're not going to be hurting anyone." Austin let out an exasperated sigh and took my hand, pulling me effortlessly up off the forest floor.

"Oh, all right."

"Yes!" I laughed, and Austin let out a disapproving snort, but I knew better. He was just as excited as I was to try out my powers for the first time.

"But we're going hunting first, all right? Just in case."

"Yeah, yeah," I reassured him, as we took off deeper into the forest at inhuman speed.

When I first realized what I had become, it had been so hard for me to feed. I detested draining humans of their blood, but I couldn't help it. The thirst was too much for me. Even though I only fed as often as absolutely necessary, about one human per few weeks, it still bothered me to think of myself as akin to the monsters that had created me.

Back a few months ago when I was a human and lived in Boston, I loved taking walks through the endless woods behind my house. There were no trails, but that suited me fine; I cut my way through the underbrush, and eventually wore down my own paths. The woods in my town were always full of hikers, because of the scenic hills and streams. Every once in a while a hiker would disappear, get lost in the woods, whatever; but it never scared me, though it did rattle my erratic, overprotective mother. She never liked me to go exploring on my own, but this became one of the very reasons I kept doing it. So, whenever I was stressed, I'd go out back with my hiking boots and bug spray, and head into the woods.

That day six months ago, I got into a fight with my mom and decided to go on a walk. I can remember her pained expression as I stormed out of the house. It's one of the last human memories that is still clear to me.

I didn't grab my cell phone, as I usually do, in my rush to get out of the house and escape from our disagreement. Hours passed as I wandered aimlessly, farther than I had ever gone before, straying off the paths I had carved through the trees. I sat down to rest on a dilapidated log, and buried my face in my hands as I started to cry.

Suddenly, an ice-cold hand was on my shoulder, and cool breath was at my ear, telling me everything would be all right, everything would be fine.

But it wasn't.

I had no time to react. The time that passed between when the hungry vampire putting his hand on my shoulder and when he bit my neck can't have been more than a nanosecond. His fangs pierced my neck and I felt warmth spread down my chest and shoulder. The pain was excruciating; it burned across my skin like a torch and started to spread, until I could feel the heat and flames flooding my face and going down my arms. And all the while, the vampire held me in his death grip, cradled me almost tenderly, while draining me of blood; draining me of life.

Then, just as quick as he had descended on me from behind, the vampire was gone, being thrown thirty feet in the air by another vampire who had seemed to appear out of nowhere. The second vampire, with shoulder length dark hair and burning red eyes, crouched over the blood-covered one, snarling ferociously and snapping his teeth like a wild animal.

"I told you this was _my_ hunting grounds." His voice was like poison; even while i was trapped in a haze of pain, his growls sent chills up and down my spine. The vampire that attacked me straightened up from the ground into a crouch and let out a hiss, sounding absolutely terrifying. He lunged, but the dark-haired vampire was quicker, and then suddenly, there were more. A female vampire with wild curly black hair hurtled through the air at my attacker, pinning him down and tearing chunks off of his arms with her bare teeth. Another vampire man with long black hair sauntered over to help, looking almost arrogantly bored at the proceedings, and body parts were being scattered across the dead leaves on the forest floor.

I was fading in and out of consciousness, the burning sensation was increasing as it spread down my arms and my torso, and I lay there on the ground, frozen with pain and fear. The last thing I saw as my last human memory fell into the dark oblivion was purple smoke rising from the scene where the vampires had fought, and the blonde vampire's voice muttering, "It's too late now, she's already changing. We're leaving."

And then everything was darkness and torturous agony.

**Thanks for reading my first chapter, and when you're done please check out my best friend's story. Her username is DrivesLikeACullen and her story is called Broken Dreams. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

When I awoke, I was still lying in the same position, slumped across the moist log that I had been sitting on. I had no idea how much time had passed since I was attacked, and neither could I truly understand yet what had attacked me, and what I had become. When I placed my hands over my heart, all I felt was my stone-hard skin. No heartbeat.

I was bombarded by the smells that I could detect with my new nose, all the small scents that the leaves stirred up as they rustled on the ground; earth, small animals, and new vegetation coming up underneath.

But what I remember most of my first few days as a newborn vampire is the burning thirst in the back of my throat, an unquenchable dryness that was so compelling and all consuming that it made my throat feel like it was literally on fire.

I wandered away from the direction of my house, confused and disoriented, all the time suspecting what I had become, but not wanting to believe it. I was dizzied by my new visionary capabilities: I could see every leaf on each tree as I walked past it, see each dust particle that filtered through the jade-green canopy of leaves overhead. I marveled at the power that surged through my marble-white body as I ran with inhuman speed and leaped over fifty-foot trees with ease. Eventually, I reached a deserted highway, and I decided to follow it. As I stepped out of the woods into the sunlight, the sun's rays made my skin sparkle like thousands of pinpricks of light were covering my granite skin. My hands were like tiny five-point stars, glittering as I turned them over and over in front of me.

Footsteps and a rustle that were seemingly right next to me caused me to turn my head sharply to the right, and with my new highly tuned vision, I saw a homeless woman dragging a shopping cart full of musty brown objects through the piles of dead leaves by the side of the highway, about fifty yards down from me. I could smell her on the air, even from that distance; I could smell the rusty scent of the blood that pulsed through her veins. Before she had any time to see me coming, I had lunged toward her at breakneck speed, and I was draining her within half a second. The warm blood flowed through my mouth and down my throat, soothing the burning that I knew now was my omnipresent thirst for human blood.

For the following weeks, I hunted as little as possible. I stayed in the woods, where I knew I could stay safe and unseen, and also not hurt anybody who I wouldn't want to hurt. When I fed, I tried to only eat homeless people who were wandering along the highway; I didn't want to kill people, but I saw no other way around it. So I made the acts of savagery I committed as noble as possible. Yet, every time I hunted, I couldn't get the image out of my head of the vampire that had attacked me snarling, crouching, and looking twisted and evil. And try as I might, I couldn't help thinking that I must look like that too.

I had to move a few miles down from where I had been attacked, because the search parties my parents hired were swarming the woods, hunting all over for me. I felt terrible that I couldn't go see my parents; but how could I? I could hardly control myself when I came into contact with people, though I was practicing. While I was hunting, I would get as close to the victim as I could, and hold myself back, force myself to smell and hear their blood as it coursed through their veins, but not lunge immediately. This way, I built up my resistance to the smell of blood and I could somewhat tolerate being around people. My intense desire to be accepted back into the life that I had been forced to abandon forever outweighed the part in the back of my mind that told me I was _not_ human, and never would be again. Yet I couldn't help myself from trying, in any way I could, to make it so that someday, I could live near humans.

However, in case a stranger ever spotted me, I decided I would need to change out of my bloodstained clothes. One day when I had listened for the sounds of my parents' car pulling out of the driveway, I scaled the side of my old house and went in the window that my mom always kept unlocked. I picked up my favorite shirt and jeans from where they were folded on my bed. My mom had done all my laundry and laid it out for me, clearly keeping up hope that I would come home. Not for the first time, I wished I could cry, but vampires seemed incapable of producing tears. I was so tempted to leave a note, something, to tell my mom that I loved her and was sorry that her last memory of me had to be one where we had fought, but I knew I shouldn't. As much as it pained me, I knew it was better if I disappeared completely, without a trace. It was enough of a risk that I was stealing a pair of clothes; I hoped my mom wouldn't notice, but I don't think she ever did.

While in my house, I passed by the mirror in my bedroom, getting my first look at myself as a vampire. My skin was pearly white, my face flawlessly smooth. My dark hair shone as I swished it around and it caught in the light and seemed to sparkle. It seemed more luscious than I remembered it ever being. Despite my being in the woods for about two weeks, without a shower or hairbrush, I was not dirty, and neither was my hair tangled or mussed. It was perfectly glossy and silky, softer than it had ever been. My legs looked elongated, and it gave me the appearance of being taller and more powerful.

The newly altered feature that disturbed me the most was my eyes. Though they looked beautiful since they had become rounder and my lashes had become thicker and darker, making it look like I had makeup on though I didn't, the irises in the center of each eye were blood red. They stood out in stark contrast to my snowy complexion, and as I stared into them, all I could see were the red eyes of my attacker. It sickened me to look at them, yet I could not look away. I stared at myself in the mirror, different but the same, alive, but mostly dead.


	3. Chapter 3

When I had stayed in the woods for about three weeks, I decided to try going to my old high school, just to see if anyone there was grieving my loss or wondering where I went. Mostly, I missed my boyfriend, Logan, and I hoped he wasn't crushed by my mysterious disappearance. He was the only boyfriend I had ever had in my short sixteen years, and I loved him. I missed him terribly, almost as much as I missed my parents.

I made sure to feed extra before I left, so that I would be less tempted. I still did not know how I would control myself, but I had confidence that I would keep my head when I was around my schoolmates, especially since I would not be getting very close to them. I stayed hidden from the sights of people as I skirted my way around town, mostly circling the edge of the woods. The large forest I was in ran like a crescent moon around my town, and the school sat in front of the northernmost tip of the crescent.

When I got to the shady area behind the main building of my old school, I saw I was not alone. I heard a girl's voice whisper, "But what about Skye?"

My stomach lurched at the sound of my name, but I kept going until I was at the edge of the woods, concealed behind the tree line so I wouldn't attract attention with my diamond-like skin. There was a boy and a girl back there as well, hidden in shadow behind a section of wall. She was giggling, and the boy trapped her up against the wall as he kissed her, reaching up his hands and tangling them in her hair. He pulled away breathless and said, in a throaty whisper, "Skye who?"

She giggled as he gave her a devious grin, then bent in for another kiss. My unbeating heart plummeted through my stomach: Logan.

It was him. And he was with another girl. I didn't even know who she was, but it didn't matter. Logan had cheated on me, when I wasn't even around to defend myself.

I took off back into the woods where I'd come from, feeling the dry sobs build up in my throat, wishing that the nonexistent tears would come. I couldn't cry, but I could feel the heartbreak just the same.

For the next few weeks, I stayed in a section of the woods that was near a more run-down part of town as I suffered the pain of seeing Logan with someone else, so soon after I had left. I had never felt so alone in my life. Seeing Logan forget about me completely while I was trapped in those dirty woods, forced to feed on homeless people made my situation seem more desolate than ever. I missed my old life so much, and I felt that i would trade anything to go back. I was so angry that this had happened to me that sometimes I would rip up entire trees by their roots, just to feel my own destructive power coursing through me. When I had calmed down, I realized that there was probably no way for me to reverse my transformation, and that being bitter about it would only make my existence that much more unbearable. Instead, i focused my thoughts on finding other vampires, somewhere i could fit in. I felt sure that there must be others like me, other vampires besides the ones that had turned me.

One day, just after I had fed on another homeless person that had ambled unsuspectingly into my path, I was sitting high up in a tree when I heard sobbing. It was coming from about sixty yards away, but whoever it was definitely in the woods with me. I leapt with leonine grace from branch to branch, not making the slightest sound or rustle, until I was perched above the human boy. I had never seen him before, though he looked about my age. He was one of the most beautiful humans I had ever seen: his blonde wavy hair was handsomely untidy, and just now, his baby blue eyes sparkled with tears. I didn't know it then, but this was Austin.

I wanted desperately to comfort him, but there was a part of me that envied him because he had real tears to cry, and I no longer did. However, in some strange way I felt that the lessening of his pain might help to ease my burden as well. But it was impossible for me to interact with him; I was still too unstable. I stayed in the tree as he cried, alone on the ground below me, until he went back inside his house only a few minutes later. That night, I stayed in the tree in the woods behind his house, where I could hear everything being said in his house. It was amazing what my ears could pick up on even from a distance; I could hear each conversation as if they were happening right next to me. That night, I found out the reason why the boy was crying: he had an abusive father. I heard the fighting, the yelling, the hitting, and the slaps. I picked up the boy's name, Austin, when his father screamed at him. The boy was forced to do all the chores around the house as his father watched television, and I could tell he was miserable.

On the television, I heard news reports about me each day. How police were still out looking, and how if anyone had any information, they should come forward right away. The worst was when I heard my mother's choking sobs as the newswoman interviewed her, asking her where she thinks I might have gone and if she thinks I might have run away on purpose. My mom admitted to fighting with me before I ran out that day, and the pain and remorse for letting me walk out of the house angry and alone was heavy in her voice. My father was with her, I could hear him comforting her and answering the questions my mother was bawling too hard to answer herself. I wished I could be with my family again, but it would be impossible for a vampire to live in a house full of humans, and I accepted it. Though the idea made my heart wilt like a dying flower, I realized that someday they would move on without me, accept that I was dead, and go on with their lives. I would never be able to go on with mine.

Nevertheless, my heart ached for the boy I did not know, and I felt lucky that when I was human I had at least had a loving mother, even if we had fought a lot. Experiencing his pain, even remotely, eased my own pain and loneliness, because I felt like at least somebody else is hurting too. I thought about how he had to be at least as lonely as I was, an outcast in his own home, physically beaten every day. I imagined what it would be like to grow up without a parent to turn to, without someone who was always there to protect you. The injustice in both of our situations made me feel like Austin and I were connected somehow, connected by our similar feelings of loneliness. It wasn't fair that I had become a vampire at such an inopportune time; I should have had a whole life ahead of me. And it wasn't fair that Austin had an abusive and oppressive father. His father was planning it so that the Austin would have a minimally successful future as a construction worker. He would not be allowed to go to college. He didn't even attend the public high school; his father homeschooled him every day, and as a result of this, Austin had no friends.

The more I grew attached to Austin without his ever knowing I was there, I began to think of a plan. Austin had no future; neither did I, from where I was right now. I had a profound hopelessness that I would ever find anyone like me who was not a completely uncivilized savage, because I had no idea how to look for them. I was only beginning to figure out my special abilities on my own, and I was terribly lonely. I decided I was going to change Austin.


	4. Chapter 4

I wasn't sure exactly how to do it, but I decided to go from experience. Though most of my human memories were fragmented and unfocused, like looking through a sooty windowpane, the one memory that I had retained in all its original clarity was that day I was attacked.

I was scared that if I bit him, I would not be able to stop sucking his blood and that I would kill him. I desperately did not want to kill Austin; I needed a companion, and every day that I spent alone was making me even more depressed.

It took me a week to build up the courage to formulate a plan, by which time I had been alone in the woods, a solitary vampire, for about a month and a half. More than once, the thought crossed my mind that maybe Austin would not appreciate being changed, that he would miss his human life as I missed mine. But I felt confident that he would be more grateful rather than unthankful, and in any case, I was growing more and more restless by the day.

Of course, I decided to give him a choice. One day when he was out in the woods, pacing----that's another similarity I noticed between us: we both take longs walks when we are stressed---- I decided it was now or never.

I dropped down from my fifty-foot perch in a tree directly in front of him, landing neatly on both feet, feeling my long dark hair swish around my shoulders as it floated down behind me. He looked at me with unabashed shock on his face, clearly wondering why a strange, pale-skinned teenager had just flown down from a tree so close to his house.

"Were you---- were you just---, " Words seemed to fail him, so he merely pointed upward, towards the leafy treetops that were barely rustled though I had just leaped down from them. Instead of speaking, I just smiled at him and nodded. He really was beautiful. His eyes followed the curve of my lips as I smiled at him, and then he grinned himself. When his eyes moved up to meet mine and saw their burning red irises, his grin faltered, and he gave me the skeptical face, the one I would come to adore.

"Who _are_ you, exactly?" he asked, taking in the rest of my appearance: my long graceful legs, marble-white skin, and long black hair. His eyes widened with acknowledgement, and he blurted out, "But you're that girl from the news, the one from the other side of town who went missing! We have to tell someone!" He turned and made to sprint back to his house, but I flung out my hand, palm out towards him, and yelled,

"Stop!"

As soon as I flung out my hand, an amazing warmth, not unlike the rush I got when I drank blood, flooded into my palm. Just like that, Austin stopped dead in his tracks and slid to the ground as if he had ran full on into a wall.


	5. Chapter 5

I stood there, shocked at what I had just done, staring at my hand as the warmth receded from it, leaving it as unfeeling and stone-like as ever. Its appearance had not changed at all; what I had perceived as warmth must have been a surge of power.

Meanwhile, as I stared at both my hands, turning them over and over, Austin had gotten up and was stalking towards me, eyes narrowed and jaw set. "How the hell'd you---"

But the rest of his sentence was cut off as I extended my hand again, felt a surge of power, and watched as he ricocheted off what looked like an invisible barrier. There was nothing there, even with me looking as hard as I could with my inhuman vampire vision. And yet, there Austin was, angrily rubbing the red mark on his forehead. As he looked at me, again taking in my red eyes, he slowly raised his hand up and placed it, palm out, in midair. His palm spread as if it was being smashed against a plate of glass that was hovering in front of him, between us. He furrowed his brow and gave the appearance of trying to push with all the force his weak human muscles could muster, but he couldn't move the wall a bit. Suddenly, this all seemed quite comical to me, and I let out a short burst of laughter, which only seemed to disturb Austin more than the fact that I had unwittingly conjured up an impassable, invisible barrier. For the first time, he looked scared of me, his pupils dilating with fear as he turned away from the barrier, towards his house, and began to run.

"Oh, boy, " I muttered to myself. This was absolutely _not_ going as planned. "Sorry to have to do this again, Austin," I said, even though I knew he wouldn't hear me. Then I flung out my hand for the third time.

My powers did not fail me. Austin rebounded yet again, and this time, the speed with which I planted the barrier and the velocity at which he was hurtling towards it caused him to crumple to the ground upon impact. He lay there holding his forehead, which now had two new red splotches, in addition to the bruises and cuts that I assumed his father had given him. He gave a little moan, and I dropped the barrier and sped to his side in less than half a second. He scrambled away from me as I crouched over him, holding my breath so that I would be less tempted in such close proximity to his blood.

I needed him to trust me if I wanted this to work out. Only then did I realize what a huge risk I was taking, because if he chose not to have me change him, I will have had revealed my secret to him. I became afraid that he would choose not to have me change him, and I was afraid that me hitting him hard in the head three times with I had no idea what was already causing him not to trust me.

"Look, " I said, trying to make my voice as compelling as possible, "You're just going to have to trust me. And for goodness' sake please _try_ to stop running away."

"What _are_ you?" Austin looked at me with a look of mixed curiosity and disgust, and I bit my lower lip. He raised his eyebrows as if to ask, _well?_

"Well…." I hesitated. "Technically speaking, I'm a vampire."

Austin raised his eyebrows even higher, until they were in danger of disappearing into the soft blonde curls that fell across his forehead. Then, without warning, he let out a bark of laughter, dusted off his hands, and stood up swiftly, but I was faster. I was standing with my hand wrapped around his wrist before he had even noticed that I had stood up as well. He flinched when my ice-cold skin touched his, and I became momentarily distracted by the fact that I could feel his blood pulsing beneath the thin walls of his veins. Before I could stop myself, I brought his wrist up to my nose and inhaled deeply, closing my eyes and smelling the sweet scent of his blood.

"Hey---HEY!" I was shocked by Austin's shout, and I dropped his hand when he jerked it away from me with all his might, though I only did that for his benefit; I had barely even felt him jerking his arm.

"Okay, it seems like we didn't get off to a very good start." I closed my eyes because now that I had sniffed his blood, it was becoming harder and harder for me to not give in to biting him. It was a good thing that I had eaten a little extra before I came; the images that were running through my head of me draining the life out of Austin were distracting me, _big time._ Austin snorted, and my eyes flew open. "Stop that! This is very difficult for me, even without your attitude."

The disapproving look was back on his face, but he just shrugged his shoulders, crossed his arms, and said, "Sorry."

"All right, Austin---"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Just how do you know my name? I didn't even go to your school."

Oh, boy. "Uhm…. long story. Maybe someday I'll tell you. But that depends on---"

But I never got to finish my sentence. Because just then, the vampire that had fought off my attacker six months ago dropped out of a nearby tree, leaned casually against the trunk, and asked, "Depends on what?"


	6. Chapter 6

I instinctively reached for Austin, and pulled him through the air until he was behind me, then I crouched down and bared my teeth at the vampire. I mustered my best growl, and let out what I thought was a pretty ferocious snarl.

The vampire stood perfectly still, arms folded over his bare chest, but he raised his eyebrows, almost as if he found me amusing. I couldn't say why, but this irked me somewhat.

Trying to be as polite as possible, but without relaxing my position, I said, "Do you mind? We were kind of in the middle of something here."

From behind me, Austin chose this moment to butt in, "Are there any more of you up there?", as he looked upwards at the treetops. _I hope not_, I thought to myself. But I remained quiet as the vampire finally shoved off the tree and came around behind me. I zoomed to the other side of Austin so that he was still behind me, and the vampire narrowed his eyes at me.

"What exactly were you planning to _do_ with him?" He sniffed the air over my shoulder, and I could hear Austin cringe backwards.

"I'm sorry, but I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Well, seeing as I've allowed you to hunt in my hunting grounds for all these months, I think I deserve to know." The vampire cocked his head and his red feral eyes stared into mine. The image of his eyes brought me back to the day I was changed, when the other vampire and this one had fought. He had told my attacker that it was his "hunting grounds". Judging by their fight, vampire custom upheld that hunting in somebody else's grounds was not appreciated.

"But, why have you let me hunt here all these months?" I was confused. If he was hunting here and so was I, why hadn't we run into each other at all?

"Well, " The vampire looked down at his hands, brushed a nonexistent dust fleck off of his fingernail, than looked up at me and smiled. "I have to admit that I've been curious." His thick accent reminded me of some European country. "Newborns are usually exceptionally destructive, especially within their first year. How have you maintained such a close proximity to the humans without going mad?"

"Wait… are there… more? Like, a lot more?" The way the vampire made it sound, there were plenty of other vampires somewhere.

He raised his eyebrows again. "But of course."

Well. Not like anyone told me, so how was I supposed to know? Instead of pointing this out to him, I decided to get as much information as I could. Without noticing what I was doing, I began to relax my position, and I straightened up a little. I could hear Austin shifting restlessly behind me, but at least he now had the sense to keep quiet. Or else he was so petrified he couldn't speak.

"Where are they?" I asked the vampire. "Wait, who _are_ you anyway?"

"My name is Roland. I lived in Russia before I was changed in the year 1860."

My jaw dropped. "You're old!", I blurted out before I could stop myself. Roland just raised his eyebrows and gave me the half-amused look again. "But, well, you don't look old…"

"Yes," he said, his voice sounding like poisoned honey. "I was only twenty-nine when I was changed. Vampires don't age."

"So… I'll be sixteen…_forever_?"

Roland nodded solemnly. I couldn't believe it. I would never get any older. This was something I never would have guessed about myself. I hadn't noticed that I wasn't growing because after all, it had only been a couple months, and I hadn't exactly had daily access to a mirror.

I was so preoccupied thinking over whether I was pleased or upset to hear that I would be eternally young that I didn't notice as Roland shifted a few inches closer.

"What else?" I craved to feel like I belonged, like I fit in somewhere, even if it was with the vampires who had essentially damned me. I was so desperate for information on other vampires, anything at all that could help me find them, that it felt almost like a physical hunger. Meanwhile, the longer this conversation went on, the increasingly petrified Austin became. I could hear the pounding of his blood like a drum in my ears, and his breathing was quickening. This made it quite difficult for me to keep my head clear and focus on the vampire in front of me.

"Well, " Roland seemed to be choosing his words carefully, but he couldn't keep a sneer from darkening his features. "We are forced to live secret and secluded lives. The Volturi trace our every move. They make it difficult for us to be ourselves in a world so overpopulated with humans. Because of this, many us live in secret, among humans but as separate from them as possible. We move around because too many deaths in one area can become suspicious, and if we are not cautious enough, the Volturi will pay a visit to make sure we stay under control. And a visit from the Volturi is something you will not easily walk out of alive."

It was so much to take in, that I couldn't think of what to even ask next as I tried to process everything I had just heard. Again, without my noticing, Roland shifted a fraction of a footstep forward, and Austin's heart rate spiked.

Finally, I asked the first question that came to mind, "Who are the Volturi?"

"They are the vampire royalty, something like rulers over our kind. They create the rules, and they make sure they are strictly enforced. However, though they emphasize mainly one rule, its gives us enough problems in itself."

"And what exactly is that rule?"

Roland's red eyes gleamed and narrowed as they gazed over my shoulder at Austin, and he hissed, "Don't tell the humans."

And in less than half a second, Roland had launched himself over me, coming down straight on top of Austin, who crunched sickeningly to the ground under the weight of the force of the vampire's lunge. I turned just in time to see Roland bite into Austin's neck, where blood spurted immediately and profusely. My scream of horror matched Austin's howls of pain, and the only thing on my mind was to get Roland off of him.

In a flash, my hand flew out and Roland was rebounded off of Austin by the energy shield. Austin laid there, his eyes rolling in his head, blood pouring down his torso, and the smell staggered me. I could see myself in my mind, caressing his face, drinking greedily at his blood, how good that would taste. As that image played in my mind, I was suddenly sickened by myself, and I knew that I couldn't do it. But I couldn't let Roland do it either.

Behind me, Roland was recovering from the shock of being blown backwards. I turned towards him and saw him dragging himself up from amongst three trees, which had all snapped clean in half and crashed to the forest floor under the force of his impact. Roland hunched forward and snarled menacingly, then shot towards me, but my hand was up before he could get anywhere near me and he reverberated backwards. This time, I took the offensive, and leapt on top of him before he got up. In a distant and dark part of my human memory I could see Roland and the two other vampires who had accompanied him tearing limbs off of the vampire that attacked me. I acted on instinct as I ripped off Roland's left arm just as it clawed towards my face. It made a metallic, rock-smashing-rock sound, and it reminded me of what it would be like to destroy a marble sculpture.

Though the loss of his arm slowed his reflexes for a fraction of a second, Roland was able to fling me off of him so quickly that I flew twenty feet in the air and crashed down through the branches of a tall pine until I smashed onto the ground. It didn't hurt, but it shocked me; it took me a second or two before I picked myself up and raced back to where Roland was leaning over Austin's shaking body, about to start drinking his blood again.

I used my powers to shield Austin, and Roland hissed angrily as he was thrown backwards for the third time. Before he could stir from his shallow indent that he had made in the ground, I had dived on top of him and torn off his other arm. Without arms, it was hard for the snarling Roland to get ahold of me, and soon I had severed his legs. The image of an array of body parts, separated and pale, lying around limbless torso haunted my sleepless nights for many years to come.

I didn't know exactly what to do next, yet I could see in my disjointed human recollection of the day I was changed a purple smoke, hazing around the figures of the three retreating vampires. I guessed I would have to light the pieces on fire; within minutes I had ignited two arm-thick branches of dry wood by rubbing them together at inhuman speed. Sparks flew from the blur of brown wood in my cold hands and began to burn the pieces of Roland's ravaged body.

It made me sick to watch Roland's fingers twitch and his knees flex in the flames, and I looked away only to see Austin's mangled body on the ground some twenty feet away. I hurried to his side, not allowing myself to breathe as I wiped the tears that had mixed with blood from his cheeks. I became scared that I would lose control for even half a second and kill him, especially because it was becoming increasingly harder to stare at the hot, sweet blood pouring down his neck and onto the leaves around his head. I stepped backwards, covering my mouth and nose with one hand while creating a shield between Austin and myself. My throat burned and raged, and my legs twitched uncontrollably as if they would jump on him at any second.

Meanwhile, it was evident that a change was taking place in Austin's body. Even as I watched over him, the cuts and bruises on his face healed and smoothed over, to be replaced by pale skin that was becoming increasingly paler. The wounds on his neck were closing up, the blood ceasing its flow and drying, then flaking off his skin, leaving it blemish-free and snowy white.

Hours passed, and I sat as far away from Austin as I could up in a tree, but I made sure I could still see him. Three days passed as I sat there without moving an inch, frozen in place, keeping watch over Austin's body. Not for three days did he twitch or move in any way, and neither did I. The only changing thing about him was his skin; it leeched of color until it glowed with paleness, and his blonde hair shone, making him look like a peaceful angel.

On the third day, Austin's eyelid gave a flutter, and he was awake.


	7. Chapter 7

Austin's eyes snapped open and his crimson irises glowed in the pale evening light. He looked around, then stood up quickly, still searching through the shadows in the trees for a possible attacker. Then his hands flew to his throat, no doubt realizing his burning thirst, and he swallowed gingerly. Austin's eyes narrowed and he seemed to be getting ready to call out something, but wasn't sure what to say, or perhaps, whom to call. I took this as my cue to reveal myself and as I slid my leg forward, preparing to jump, Austin suddenly looked up at me.

I froze. For some reason, I immediately became flustered, so I gave an unnecessary cough and said, "Hi, I'm Skye… uhm… so how are you?"

Austin just raised his eyebrows, but I remained perched in my tree. I wasn't completely confident that Austin would react calmly when he found out he was a vampire. I had no way of knowing how much of our last conversation had survived the change that essentially wiped most of his memories. I also understood that there was a good chance he would consider me responsible, should he not take well to his new lifestyle changes.

So, I prepared myself for the worst and fell neatly to the ground in front of Austin. I glanced at his neck and saw a crescent-shaped wound, which I knew was where Roland had bitten him.

"Do you… remember anything? About what happened before the accident?" Austin's red, hungry eyes looked away from mine and stared beyond me into the gloom of the forest.

"Some, " he replied, and his voice sounded beautiful, like the voice of an angel, but it also seemed pained. His eyes were full of sadness as he finished, "but not much." He looked back at e then, and I nodded, unsure of what an appropriate response would be. The Austin continued, "I remember you… standing in front of me. And there was another man… I didn't know who he was. "

"Yes," I said, barely whispering, though I knew he could hear me perfectly clear. "That was Roland."

Austin nodded solemnly and went on, "I remember him jumping me, and then I was in terrible pain."

I nodded again, and decided that I at least owed him the truth. I took a deep breath, but then I smelled the blood on his torn clothes, and I quickly stopped inhaling. Even three-day-old blood excited my senses, because I was quite thirsty. However, I needed to stay focused for now; I would hunt later. After all, Austin would need to feed very soon; I remembered how thirsty I was when I awoke that first day.

"Roland was angry because I was telling you our secret. He said it was the only rule upheld by our kind: 'Don't tell the humans.' And I was telling you, so in his mind, you needed to be disposed of."

"Telling me what?" Austin's eyes looked curious now, but his hand moved unconsciously to his throat and felt the curved scar, the only wound he had ever received that would never heal.

"We're vampires, Austin."

Before I could brace myself for his reaction Austin had lunged towards me, and my shock prevented me from using my powers quick enough to stop him. He crashed into me and we both plummeted to the ground hard, with Austin on top of me, pinning me beneath him. Austin was surprisingly heavy and enormously strong, even stronger than Roland had been.

He also smelled delicious, but I forced myself to focus instead on the way his perfect features were contorted with rage. "This is all your fault," he hissed at me. "If you had never dropped into my life, I wouldn't be a monster… like _you_."

His words hurt more than when he had tackled me, and I felt a dry sob building up in my throat. "Austin…"

"Forget it, " he mumbled, then he shoved off me and took off running, deep into the forest. I sprinted after him, but he was so fast, he had reached all the way to the highway before I caught up. Up ahead, I saw him vault over the steel fence along the highway and land on the strip of grass parallel to the pavement, swinging his head left and right to take in his surroundings. With a jolt I saw the headlights of cars whooshing past, and knew that anybody who was traveling on that highway was now conceivably in mortal danger.

I used my powers to shield Austin from the road just as he lunged at a car that was passing in front of him, and he rebounded back into the steel fence. There was a clang of stone against metal, and Austin was sprawled across the destroyed highway barrier, which now had a huge dent, causing a couple of its spikes to tear up from the ground. I walked up to Austin and grabbed his arm, hauling him back into the forest while maintaining a shield behind me, in case Austin made for the road again. I threw him as hard and as far as I could back into the woods, because I knew he would not take well to being dragged, and there would not be much I could do if he decided to fight me off. It annoyed me that he seemed to be stronger than me. It made sense that we should start off weaker, and grow stronger the longer we lived as vampires; therefore, I should be able to subdue him easily, since I had six months on him. But it seemed to be the opposite. I realized that if I wanted more to look forward to than spending an eternity hiding in this forest, eating homeless people, then I would need to leave the safety of these woods and seek other vampires who could teach me how to live as one of them. But for now, I had a violent, newborn vampire on my hands that I needed to deal with before he dealt with me.


	8. Chapter 8

By the time I had raced back to where Austin was, he was picking himself up from the splintered wood wreckage of a large pine tree.

"Hey," I spat the word at him, feeling anger shape my face into a scowl. I couldn't help it: I was feeling pretty angry now. He never gave me a chance to explain how none of this was my fault, how I was planning on letting him choose, and how I wanted to do it for his own good. Not to mention the fact that I then saved his life by killing and ripping apart a huge Russian vampire, all things I had _not_ been planning to do. I had something to say to Austin, and he was going to listen. "We need to talk."

Austin looked at me scathingly and hissed, "About what?"

"Well, first, you can drop the attitude, because I'm on your side here." Austin glared at me, and then looked away, folding his muscular arms over his chest. "Then, you can listen to what I have to say."

I took a deep breath, and controlled my voice so that it retained the pretense of composure. "I was planning to change you, but only with your consent. I was changed six months ago, and I have been living here by myself, feeding on homeless people. I've spent many sleepless nights wishing there was somebody like me, who I could talk to. And besides, I knew the kind of life you were living, and where it was leading, which was basically nowhere."

Austin's head snapped back in my direction, and he looked offended. "So, you spied on me… in order to change me… so you could have a _friend_?!"

"Well," Now that he said it like that, I felt rather embarrassed for all those times I sat in the woods outside his property, listening to the private affairs of his household. But my intentions were good… right? Suddenly, it seemed very childish of me to want to take someone else's humanity, just to lessen my own loneliness. I couldn't ignore that a large part of my decision to change Austin was based on my craving for company. I thought about how I would feel if I was Austin, and realized that I would be infuriated as well, if only because I never got a chance to choose my fate for myself. "I only wanted to help you. I was going to offer you a way out of your human life, an opportunity to run away and maybe be able to make it on your own, no longer under the watch of your father."

Austin looked away from me, staring into the trees, then sighed in defeat. "I suppose you're right. If I'd've had the option, I probably would've chosen to go with you." Austin looked back at me, still unsmiling, but his face looked less furious than it had before. Now he simply seemed resigned to accept his fate. "Anyway, if you say you really were alone here, then how could you have known that telling me you were a vampire would be breaking the law?"

He was right, of course. That much wasn't my fault. Still, part of me felt guilty for forcing this life on Austin, when he should have been given the choice to decline. Nevertheless, I couldn't deny that I felt like now I at least had something to look forward to, someone who could go with me on my journey to find more of our kind. I was no longer all alone.

I nodded, and then beckoned him forward. "I assume you're hungry?"

Finally, Austin gave me a half-smile, and unbeating heart felt lighter than it had in months. He sniffed the air, looking back towards the highway, before he turned his scarlet eyes onto me. "Starving."


	9. Chapter 9

It had been four months since that day Austin woke up as a vampire, and we had our first hunting trip together. Over time, we became like best friends, united in our way of life, depending on each other for friendship and strength. We were still living in those woods that shaped themselves around our old town, but our hunting habits had changed somewhat.

It was Austin who had suggested, after out very first hunting trip in which he helped me take down three homeless people, that we find an alternative to eating humans. He never told me outright what brought on his conversion, but I had a guess: his father had been so controlling of Austin, I figured he couldn't bear to be like his father, deciding when someone else should live or die. Because of this, Austin and I modified our routine: we began hunting animals for blood, instead of people.

We tried to hunt bigger game, but our supply was limited, especially since we were living in what was essentially an enclosed wooded area. We couldn't pick off every deer in the forest or there would never be any more, so we tried to capture smaller game as well, like rabbits and foxes. Unfortunately, this meant we had to catch a lot more of them. Still, with my powers, hunting was almost _too _easy: I could capture a scampering rabbit as soon as I spotted it, using barriers to trap it in its place. Sometimes, we would venture across the highway in the dead of night, and spend a few days hunting in the woods on the other side. But as the months dragged on, the animals were becoming scarcer; we knew that we would have to move on soon, so I had developed a plan for us to try out, to get some information on where we could live.

Today, Austin had decided that we would hunt a little extra, just in case, and then we would begin the first part of our plan.

"Hey, Supergirl, you gotta keep up if you don't want me to get all the good deer." Austin turned his head over his shoulder, grinning at me as we raced through the trees in search of a meal. He began calling me Supergirl shortly after he began insisting on calling my powers 'force fields', as if I was a superhero.

"Do you think you could _try_ to refrain from calling me that?" I said this to him every time he called me by my unwanted nickname, and I always got the same teasing reply:

"Nah, I don't think I can do that." Austin winked at me, and his eyes shone like molten gold. That was the other change: after the very first time we drank animal blood, we looked at each other and exclaimed at the same time that our eyes had changed color. Now, instead of blood red, they were topaz whenever we had just fed. As the days went by that we didn't feed, our eyes became darker, until they were dark onyx. But since we were feeding extra today, Austin's eyes were still light gold from our hunt across the highway yesterday.

Within minutes, I had used my powers to trap two large deer for us. We had been eating mainly rabbits for the last couple days, so that we could have bigger game on the day we were going to try out my idea.

After we had fed, we raced each other to the house that we would wait outside of. It was a Wednesday; the owners of the house, an elderly couple named the Macready's, always went grocery shopping on Wednesday mornings. I knew this because back when I was human and my grandma lived in my family's house, her and Mrs. Macready were best friends. Mrs. Macready still lived in the same house I used to visit her at, after my grandma had died a few years ago.

Austin and I hid in the bushes outside the Macready's little white cottage at the edge of the forest. It was morning; daylight was seeping across the lawn, and lights were coming on in the house. We could hear Mrs. Macready opening the kitchen windows for some fresh air, and then her and her husband sat down to breakfast. Through the open window, I could smell the sweet scent of their blood pumping through their veins, but I forced myself not to breath. Austin was trying to do the same thing, but it was harder for him; his legs twitched as if he would take off at any moment, and his hands were curled tightly into fists, making the tendons stand out on his muscular forearms. Even with all the blood in us, the thirst in our throats always became agitated when we got nearer to humans.

Using my powers, I put up a shield in front of the bushes, just in case Austin's self control faltered. He looked at me, then reached a hand out and it pressed against the invisible barrier. I smiled shyly at him and muttered, "Sorry."

Austin and I listened and waited, trying unsuccessfully not to eavesdrop on their conversation. But with our ultrasensitive hearing, it was impossible for us not to pick up on each chink of fork against china, each breath, each heartbeat.

"Hey, Helen. Look at this." Mr. Macready slid the morning paper across the table towards his wife and tapped his finger onto the headline.

"Oh, dear." There was silence as Mrs. Macready started reading the article, and after a few minutes, she set it down on the table and let out a sigh. "The father of that local boy that went missing four months ago found an extinguished fire, a little ways into the woods behind his house. He told the police and they were at the site all yesterday, collecting samples. They think whoever abducted him might have killed him in the fire. They're going to test it to see what kind of DNA they might find."

I looked at Austin with a horrified expression on my face, and his mouth was wide open. If they did tests on those ashes, I had no idea what kind of remains they would find. Did vampires have DNA? Would they test Roland's DNA and find out he wasn't human? Roland had told me that if any vampires in an area got too careless with their secret, the Volturi would come for them, and he had made it sound like crossing the Volturi was punishable by death.

Oh _why_ hadn't I buried those ashes underground when I was done with them?

"Can you believe my father was out looking for me?" Austin looked shocked at the possibility that his father could have been worried about him. I figured Austin's father was putting on a show so that the police wouldn't begin to suspect him, but I didn't share this thought with Austin. Right now, I had more pressing issues that I needed to tell him.

I spoke very fast in a low whisper that would have been impossible for the Macready's to hear, even if they had been standing right next to me. I explained my fears, and reasoned that we must not have smelled the humans that had searched the woods yesterday because at the time we were hunting across the highway. When I was done, I stared at Austin with my eyes wide open, waiting for a response. In the same quiet voice I had used, Austin said, "Relax, Skye. I'm sure they won't find anything. Even if there were something in those ashes, it'd be extremely difficult for them to guess what it was. What would make them think it could be a vampire?"

"I suppose you're right," Austin gave me a satisfied nod, and smiled. "Now, get ready, I think they're leaving."

Sure enough, Mr. Macready was clearing their dishes and fishing the keys out of a kitchen drawer while Mrs. Macready closed the windows. Just as she was about to shut the last window, I used my powers to send a barrier to rest just on top of the sill, which would prevent the window from closing all the way. Mrs. Macready used all the muscles that a frail, seventy-five-year-old woman her size could muster, but it was no surprise that she couldn't get the window to shut.

" Frank, dear, could you come close this for me?" Mrs. Macready shuffled off to the front door, carefully donning her jacket and shoes. Mr. Macready shoved with all his might, but the window simply wouldn't close. Austin chuckled, and I couldn't contain a giggle as we watched the huffing Mr. Macready becoming increasingly red-faced. Finally, he gave it up, and, muttering about how everything in their house was breaking these days, followed out the front door after Mrs. Macready. In a minute, their car was backing down the driveway, and their house was deserted. Austin and I emerged from the bushes and hurried towards the window as the sun set off our skin into thousands of diamond-like sparkles.


	10. Chapter 10

Once I had removed the barrier, we were able to ease the window open without difficulty and hoist ourselves through. We made sure to leave it open just a crack, like it had been before we opened it, just in case things did not go according to plan. We needed computer access, and breaking into a house seemed the best way. At first we considered just walking into a public library to use their computers, but that posed two problems: first, we couldn't let normal people see us in the daytime, when the sun was out. But also, neither of us trusted ourselves enough to handle being in a room full of humans yet. And, neither of us wanted to sneak into our own houses; the memories were too painful, and we were trying to move away from those memories and let our human lives fall behind us.

So, when we were both inside the Macready's kitchen, Austin strode purposefully towards the stairs, then hesitated and turned around.

"Where did you say their computer was, again?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "Second floor, first door on the left, in the study."

Austin grinned and said, "Right," then bounded up the stairs, taking them three at a time. I turned to look around at the familiar kitchen. I remembered the fake wood cabinets, the decorative plates on the walls with the paintings of vegetables, and the rickety wooden chairs. The smells of Mrs. Macready's washing detergent and the air freshener she used reminded me of times when I had sat in here with her and my grandmother, but those memories seemed like a dream. The longer I lived as a vampire, the less I could remember of my human life. It was like when I would wake up from a dream and lay in bed, trying to remember what the dream was about, but the more I thought about it, the more it slipped away from me. I was afraid that someday I would forget my human life and my human parents completely, and I never wanted that to happen.

On the kitchen table sat a bowl of fruit, and in the middle of the arrangement were two perfect peaches. Peaches used to be my favorite fruit when I was human, and Mrs. Macready always had a couple ready when she knew I was coming to visit. It disturbed me that when I thought of what my favorite foods and smells were now, all I could picture was blood seeping down the chestnut neck of a deer. The smell of the peaches made me wrinkle my nose, and I followed Austin up the stairs to the study.

When I got there, he was grumbling something about the slow Internet connection, and I smiled to myself. "How's it coming?"

"Slow as hell." Austin began to tap his finger against the side of the oak desk he was sitting at as he waited for the page to come up to the screen. I glanced at his finger and saw it starting to beat faster and faster until he was making a dent in the wood.

"Hey, watch it there." Austin immediately stopped tapping and looked around at me, and I nodded at the small circular impression in the desk beneath his fingers.

"Oh, crap." He slid the mouse pad over a few inches so that it covered the dent. Austin had always been impatient, but I think he was actually nervous; he kept glancing out the window every few seconds, as if expecting to see the Macready's car peeling back into the driveway.

"Relax, Austin. They're not coming back for at least another hour, I promise." He nodded and faced the computer again as the Internet home page finally came up. I walked over to the bookshelf on the opposite wall and began to look through the books and pictures displayed there. One was of my grandma and Mrs. Macready, and another in a silver frame was my grandma and I. I held this one softly in my hands, wishing she was still alive and that I could see her again. Then I remembered that Roland had told me vampires never aged; this meant that I would outlive my parents, my friends, and most other people in the world. An eternity of watching people around me grow old and die, but never dying, never even changing, myself. I wondered how many hundreds of years I had ahead of me before I died and would finally get to see my parents again.

"Okay, so we're looking for rainy towns that don't get much sun, ones we could walk through during the day, right Supergirl?" Austin scrolled nonchalantly through the searches, occasionally clicking on one and reading about it.

"Yep, that's the idea." I continued looking through the books and remembered how, in my human life, I had loved to read. Mrs. Macready had many of the classics that I had reread so many times, all with their pages worn down from over-use. I hoped that when Austin and I got to wherever we were going, we would buy some books; after all, since we couldn't sleep, we had all night, every night, to do whatever we wanted. While we had been living in the woods, we hadn't exactly had access to a library, and I really missed being able to read everyday.

Then, a worrying thought hit me. What _were_ we going to do when we got to our mystery destination? We had no money to buy a house, even if either of us knew how to go about purchasing real estate. We had absolutely nothing besides the clothes on our backs. It would be too dangerous for us to live in a house full of humans. And where were we going to go to school? I doubted that we could enroll ourselves in a school without parental consent.

As if he had read my mind, Austin suddenly asked me, "What's the plan when we get there, anyway?"

"I'm not quite sure yet. We'll have to figure it out as we go I guess."

Just then, I heard the sound of a car coming down the street, and I rushed to the window. Austin's head snapped in my direction, and I saw a blue Ford emerging from around the corner: the Macready's car.

"Hurry, Austin, they must have come back early for some reason!"

"It's okay, I have something picked out anyway." Austin hurriedly hit print and a page with driving directions on it began its agonizingly slow passage out of the printer. Outside, I could hear the Macreadys trudging up the front lawn, arguing about something that sounded as though Mr. Macready had forgotten his wallet. I went to look over Austin's shoulder and saw the words 'FORKS, WA' across the top of the website page.

Austin grabbed the sheet of paper from the printer and asked me as we flung ourselves out of the second-story open window, "How do you feel about a little cross-country road trip?"


	11. Chapter 11

Mr. Macready was stumping up the stairs as Austin and I flashed across the backyard, our skin making us dazzle like shooting stars. As we ducked into the cool green shade of the forest, we could hear Mr. Macready fetch his wallet from the desk in the study. Then he called down the stairs to his wife, "Helen, did you leave the computer on again?"

Austin laughed and I grabbed the sheet of directions from his hand, examining the picture of a slate gray ocean churning against an overcast sky.

"So why this place?" I asked, looking at how many miles we would have to cover and wondering how long it would take us, even with our vampire speed.

"I'm not sure, I guess I liked the idea of being near a beach. I've always wanted to go to a beach. And besides, there're plenty of forests around there, so we'll have loads of deer to hunt." Austin grinned and his topaz eyes seemed to glow with anticipation. "No more hunting rabbits and foxes for us."

I pursed my lips and sighed. "Yes, but who knows what we'll be able to hunt along the way? That's a pretty long journey, Austin."

"Aww, c'mon, we have each other, right? It'll go by quick, I promise." Austin elbowed me lightly and I punched his arm back. If he had been human, it would have broken all his bones, but I doubt he even felt it.

But because he liked to tease me, Austin winced and rubbed his granite bicep, then said jokingly, "You don't know your own strength, Supergirl."

I just flashed him a smile and then took off into the woods, waving the sheet with the picture of Forks on it over my shoulder. Austin raced after me and was soon ahead; he was extremely fast, but made virtually no noise as he whipped through the trees.

I ran behind him, not thinking about where he was heading towards until I recognized the smells around me.

We had arrived at my old house, on the edge of the woods.

Austin turned to me, and his windswept blonde curls settled adorably around his face. All traces of laughter were gone from his expression, which looked rather sad now.

"Austin, why are we here?" I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest, crunching up the sheet of paper in my fist.

"Look, Skye, " Austin sighed and jumped up onto a moss-covered boulder, then sat down. "There's a good chance we'll never come back here again. I think you need some closure, before you let yourself forget your human life completely."

I just stared at Austin. Sunlight was streaming down from between the tops of the trees, and the rays hit Austin's profile, making his light hair glow and the side of his face sparkle. He looked like an angel, and it was hard not to give in to the way he was looking at me so intently. Besides, I felt confident that with Austin by my side, I could face whatever pain those memories might bring on. I nodded and Austin gave me a half-smile as he hopped off the boulder. He took my small hand in his and my unbeating heart leapt.

We crept closer to the house, and the smell of humans was strong in the early morning air. Dad must have been out working in the garden this morning.

"I don't think they're here just now," Austin whispered, his voice barely above a soft murmur. We inched out of the bushes and then dashed across the sunlit lawn, until we were standing under the awning over my backyard patio.

"I think you're right," I replied. I could smell the lingering scent of my mother's perfume and my dad's shampoo wafting out of the window, but it was a stale smell, as if the source had left an hour or so ago.

I walked over to the potted pansies that stood next to the patio door and lifted the pot. Underneath was the key to the back door that we had always kept there, and I used it to open the sliding glass door.

"I'll wait out here." Austin sat down on one of our white deck chairs, but I went over and pulled him up by his hand.

"I'd rather you come with me," I said, looking at him beseechingly, and he nodded and followed me into the house.

When I stepped into the kitchen, I was hit strongly by a delicious smell. It reminded me of when I was human and used to love standing in the kitchen when my mom was baking chocolate chip cookies. Suddenly, I became horrified as I realized that the smell that was so appetizing to me was the smell of humans. I shuddered as I thought of what might have happened had I come here when my parents were at home.

I crossed the kitchen and the first thing I noticed about my dad's office was that there was now a cluttered bulletin board hanging above his desk. I walked closer and saw a large picture of me tacked up on it, a blown-up version of my last yearbook photo. Jumbled around my picture were other snapshots of the woods, phone numbers, and official looking police reports. With a jolt I realized that my dad must be still trying to find me. It even looked like he was working in conjunction with the police. I wondered how many hours he had spent poring over these documents, searching for a clue of where I might have disappeared to. I could almost picture him hunched over his office desk, with his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows, running his hands through his graying hair. I felt a rush of affection for my dad, and I wished I could get the chance to talk to him again, to tell him that I was, more or less, still alive.

I left his study and walked up the stairs to my old bedroom, and Austin followed me soundlessly. I was grateful for his presence; it was very calming to me to have him there with me.

My mother's scent was the strongest in this room than in any other, and I soon noticed why. Though I had not slept in it in over ten months, the sheets and covers on my bed were disheveled as though someone had lain in it last night. I walked slower than normal to the side of my bed and leaned my head over my pillow, letting my dark hair fall against my face. I smelled my mom's shampoo and knew for sure that she must have been sleeping in my bed every night since I had left.

Suddenly, I was overcome with regret, and my breathing became shorter and sharper, sounding like I was about to cry. I knew that no tears would come, but I still had that lump in my throat that I tried to swallow around. Austin crossed the room and put his arms around me from behind, holding me against him tightly. I turned into his chest and let his hands smooth my hair as I took deep breaths. I looked back to my bed and saw that a copy of the same picture my dad had tacked up on his bulletin board was sitting on my bedside table, where it would be visible to someone laying down in my bed.

I walked to my dresser, where my make-up and other accessories had been left strewed across the top, like they always had been. I found my notebook in a drawer and a pen next to my jewelry box. I ripped a sheet of paper from the notebook and began to write:

'Mom and Dad-

I just wanted to tell you how much I love you and how much

I appreciated being your daughter. Please don't be sad that

I'm gone: I promise things will get better. Just know that I

love you and I miss you, and no matter what happens, I will

never forget you.

Love, Skye'

I folded up the note and walked to the bookcase. I took out my favorite book and slid the note between its pages. I knew that someday my parents would find the it, and I hoped they would think it had been there the whole time, that I had put it there before I disappeared. Maybe they would think I had run away, and that I was still alive out there somewhere. As long as I knew they could someday find some relief for their pain, I would be happier.

I turned back to Austin and he was standing there staring at me with such deep pain in his eyes that it made me twice as sad. I replaced the notebook and pen exactly where they had been before. Not for the first, or last, time, I wished I could hug my parents again before I set out on a journey that would take me so far away from here.

I nodded at Austin and he put his arm around my shoulders as we walked back down the stairs. I relocked the back door and put the key back under the pot of pansies. We were careful of any of my neighbors that might be outside as we darted across the sun-drenched lawn. It was almost noon now, and the sun was high in the sky over us. We had nothing left to do, no more time to waste; it was time for us to set out for Forks.


	12. Chapter 12

"Austin, let me see those directions," I said authoritatively. Austin just narrowed his eyes at me and yanked them away out of my reach.

In a flash he had jumped up to the top of a huge tree and was hanging by one hand off a branch at the top. He waved the directions over my head and called down, "I know exactly where we're going! Just hold, on, will you?"

I sighed impatiently and said, knowing he would be able to hear me, "He can't just admit we're lost. What is it with men and directions anyway?"

Then I leaped up to where he was, almost fifty feet above the ground, and landed lightly on the same branch as him. It creaked ominously underneath both of our weights, but I took a step towards Austin anyway. Suddenly the branch broke and Austin slipped sideways, but I was quick; I used my powers to create a shield right underneath him, so he was caught, hovering in midair as the rest of the branch crashed towards the earth.

"You didn't need to do that, you know," Austin looked at me disapprovingly. "I doubt a fall from this height would kill me. In fact, I doubt a fall from any height would even faze me." Then he gazed thoughtfully down at his granite arms and pale, impenetrable skin with a speculative expression. "Hey! Wanna try that out?" Austin looked at me excitedly, as if he was proposing we test out a new restaurant instead of attempt to fling ourselves off of an elevated structure just to see what would happen.

"Absolutely not! Don't you think we have enough on our plates, what with being lost and all?" I raised my eyebrows at Austin.

He nodded and said, "Fine, I guess you're right."

I laughed out loud and said, "HA! Told you."

My words dawned on him a second too late and he tried to quickly amend his previous confession. "I meant, you know, you're right about the trying to kill ourselves thing, not about the being lost thing. We're not lost, I swear." But Austin looked confusedly down at his sheet of directions, which had become crumpled and dirty from all the weeks we had been dragging it around with us. I just giggled and Austin looked at me with an offended expression.

He stuffed the directions in his back pocket and began feeling around on the invisible shield beneath him, looking for the edge. Finally, his fingers found the side of the barrier and closed around the rim, and Austin looked at me triumphantly. Just then, I yanked the shield out from below him and he plummeted to the ground, where he left a huge dent in the earth.

"That's great, Skye. You probably scared off all the game in a five-mile radius."

I just replied, "Oh, well!" and then scaled down the tree, hopping the last ten feet down to where Austin was picking himself up off the ground. He just scowled at me and then took off running, heading back towards the highway so he could check our position.

We'd been on the move for a couple weeks now, using a combination of highway signs and glances from the tops of tall trees to make sure we were heading in the right direction. Meanwhile, we were preparing ourselves for whatever we might find when we got to Forks.

I had been practicing using my powers, and I had gotten quite good at it. I could make shields in different shapes and even make spheres that could contain objects, but that took more effort. I even tried using both hands, until my left hand was almost as efficient as my dominant right hand. The more I practiced, the easier it became for me. And every time I used my powers, I got that pleasant sensation in my palm, a surge of power that felt almost like warmth. Because of this I had taken to keeping a shield going almost at all times, even if it was a small one and I made it float above my head as we ran. It just felt good to have that warmth surging through my usually stone-cold hands; it reminded me a little of when I was human, and temperatures had still affected my sensitive skin.

Austin and I had also been practicing fighting each other, trying to develop our combat skills, just in case. Austin figured that since there were limited towns in the United States that were suitable for vampires to live in, there would almost certainly be some unfamiliar vampires in Forks. I wasn't sure, however; though Roland had made it sound like there were a bunch of vampires out there, I didn't think it was probable that we would run into many of them.

Still, I had agreed that it was a good idea to take precaution, so we began dueling each other every day or so. Austin was faster than I was, and sometimes it was hard for me to pin him down long enough to win. He was also still infuriatingly stronger, a fact that I could not easily reconcile with myself. The only consolation to me was that some of his insane strength seemed to be wearing off as the months wore on. Though Austin could usually put up a good fight for a few minutes or so, more often than not it was I who won the duels, because of the upper hand my powers had given me.

One day, Austin had asked me why I thought he hadn't gained any special powers when he had changed. I thought about it for a minute and told him that I don't think Roland had had any extra abilities, not that the skills he had had weren't enough. I couldn't be sure of the other vampires that had fought the day I was changed, because I was semiconscious for much of their battle.

When I caught up to Austin, he was slowing down as he approached the side of the highway. He poked his head out of the bushes and spotted the huge green sign about half a mile down, towards the left. We could both read it perfectly from here and it said that we were only about fifty miles from our destination. Austin looked at me proudly and said, "See? We were never lost." I just rolled my eyes and kept running along the highway, being careful to stay a hundred yards in so that nobody saw me.

Austin came up behind me, silent as a predator, and fell into step beside me. Suddenly, something occurred to me that he had said back when we were at the Macready's.

"Austin, before, when I asked you why you picked Forks… have you really never been to a beach before?"

"Yeah," he nodded, his light blonde curls flying back from his face as he ran. "My dad wasn't the family outing kind of dad, you know?" He turned to me and smiled sadly, his liquid topaz eyes shining.

"That's true, I suppose," I said thoughtfully. "But still," I grinned and elbowed him in the side. "I can't believe you've never been to a beach!"

"I can't believe that you had those powers for six months and never knew about them." Austin laughed uproariously; it had always amused him that I had powers the whole time but knew nothing about them and never tried to use them.

" Oh, yeah, Austin, it's just hilarious, isn't it?" I replied sarcastically. "I was alone and scared, just trying to keep from eating people. Those six months were the longest of my life, thank you very much."

"C'mon," he said, his tone more serious now, but he was still smiling. "I came along soon enough, didn't I?"

"Yeah, thank God."

We ran in silence for a few more minutes, then Austin startled me when he said, "You know, I wish it had been _you_ that had changed me, instead of Roland."

This caught me off guard, and I couldn't think of what to say back. "No, you don't. I wasn't skilled enough yet, I don't think. If I had attempted to change you, I probably would have killed you." I shuddered to think of what my life, and peace of mind, would be like now if Austin wasn't with me. I would probably still be in those woods, and I would most definitely still be eating homeless people.

"I bet you could've done it, no problem." Austin grinned at me and I couldn't help smiling back at his perfect face.

"You give me too much credit," I sighed.

Before he could reply, Austin had stopped dead in his tracks, and I flashed past him. When I noticed he wasn't next to me anymore, I turned and saw him standing statue-still, eyes wide.

I immediately anticipated the worst and whipped around, expecting a hiding vampire to drop out of a nearby tree. But then I realized that I would have smelled a vampire, if I had been this close to one. I mean, I would have smelled one besides Austin. I tilted my face upwards and inhaled deeply, and then I knew exactly why Austin had stopped running.

There was a pungent odor filling the air that I had never smelled before. It almost made me gag, and put a strange taste in my mouth. It reminded me of what wet dog would smell like.

"Ugh, what the hell is that?" I asked Austin, but he shook his head.

"I have no idea." He scrunched up his nose and made a disgusted face. "But it's awful, isn't it?"

"Smells like wet dog," I said through clenched teeth. I stopped inhaling, but the scent lingered in my mouth.

"That's what I thought too, but shouldn't a regular dog smell like any other animal that we usually hunt?" Austin stared perplexedly around us, searching for the source of the scent, but neither of us could see anything in the trees. "Anyway, let's keep moving. I think we're pretty close to Forks now."

In fact, we were very close indeed.

When we had only gone about another five miles or so, Austin turned to me and said, "We should hunt, before we get too close to town."

I agreed, so we located some deer prints that we began to track. Before long, I had trapped them using my powers and Austin and I were feeding, being careful not to get anything on us; after all, these were the only clothes we owned for now.

We never smelled them approaching, perhaps because our senses were filled with the scent of the fresh blood we were drinking. The two vampires came on us soundlessly; within an instant Austin and I were each pinned on our backs by an unfamiliar vampire, both of whom looked very hungry, and_ very_ pissed.


	13. Chapter 13

**hey guys!**

**sorry i havent updated for a few days, i've been super busy!**

**these two new chapters are labeled like 13 and 14 only because i went back and edited my story and combined a couple chapters, so it looks like i have less chapters. but i promise these last two (which were supposed to be fifteen and sixteen, before i went back and edited) are totally new, so definitely read them!**

**and make sure you please please give me a review, that's the only way i know for sure if anyone actually likes my story!**

**and as always, twilight and its themes and characters belongs to stephenie meyer, not me. only skye and austin are mine. **

**enjoy!**

I licked a drop of blood from my lips as I stared at the snarling face above me. I did not exactly appreciate being pinned down, especially when I was in the middle of enjoying a meal. We didn't do anything to these vampires; we didn't even know them. Why should they attack us? Austin and I had finally made it to Forks, without a single glitch. And now, to run into this problem while we were so close to our destination, and not to mention the fact that it was quite early in the morning, was almost more than I could bear.

Besides, I could smell the deer's blood wafting from somewhere behind me; if my deer's blood ran cold by the time Austin and I could finish these guys off, I was going to be _pissed_.

I glanced quickly at Austin out of the corner of my eye, and he was staring down his attacker as well, a vampire who looked no older than seventeen with tousled bronze hair and a boyishly handsome face.

There was nothing boyish about the vampire above me. He was huge, built with thick, sinewy bands of muscles covering his arms and legs, and he reminded me of a bear. He had short, curly black hair, and he would have been quite attractive had he not been grimacing horribly. His face was just centimeters from mine as he growled, "Who _the hell_ are you?"

I considered a number of choice replies before I chose, "Someone you do _not _want to attack while she's eating." I used my powers to expand a shield between us, which threw the vampire off of me in an instant. I watched his face go from angry to shocked to even more pissed than before, all before he hit the ground some thirty feet away.

I turned to Austin where he laid trapped, intending to free him as well. But just as I was about to blast the bronze-haired vampire backwards, he leapt out of the way of my shield, as if he had anticipated it was coming.

"Skye! Skye, he can read minds!" Austin scrambled to his feet and rushed to my side, pointing to where his attacker was looking confusedly at my brawny assailant.

"How do you know that?" I asked him distractedly, as I put all my efforts into maintaining a nice, thick shield between us and the unfamiliar vampires.

"I… well, I don't know." Austin looked completely mystified, and for the first time, I registered what he was saying. Austin seemed to think that the bronze-haired vampire was a mind reader. Is that how he knew to jump out of the way a fraction of a second before I hit him with my shield? Was he reading my mind right now?  
"Yes, as a matter of fact I am." It was the mind-reading vampire who spoke, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he walked toward us. He looked a lot like Austin; they had the same youthful and impossibly handsome godlike features, so beautiful they were almost distracting. The only difference was their hair: Austin's was blonder and curlier, and a little longer, so that the longest ringlet fell down attractively across his forehead.

The bronze-haired vampire advanced towards us and then looked at Austin. "So, it's Austin, is it?" He raised his eyebrows and his eyes darted back to my face once.

Austin just glared at him, as if offended by the fact that the vampire could read both our minds without our consent. I had to admit, it was pretty irksome; I felt like I had no privacy to my thoughts all of a sudden. Just as this thought passed through my mind, the bronze-haired vampire grinned a crooked smile, one that was every bit as cocky as it was beautiful.

Austin stood up straighter and then moved in front of me as if to shield me, even though he probably knew I was already shielding both of us. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, and who are _you_?"

The mind-reader looked at me and then put out his hand in midair until it touched the shield, and his palm splayed as if he was pressing against a pane of glass.

He looked at me incredulously until he finally answered, "I am Edward Cullen, this is my brother Emmett Cullen. We are vegetarians, like yourselves."

Austin and I both laughed out loud before we could stop ourselves. "I'm sorry," I giggled. "But did you just call us _vegetarians_?" I had never thought of us like that before, but now that I did, I supposed the bronze-haired vampire was right; we ate only animals instead of people, so I guess that made us vegetarians by normal vampire standards. It was still pretty funny though.

The mind-reader, Edward, looked slightly offended, and he glared at Austin, who looked back defiantly. I supposed Austin had said something rather insulting in his brain and Edward wasn't happy about hearing it. His mountainous brother cracked his knuckles ominously, as if he intended to hurl himself at us. Good. I'd like to see him try to break down this barrier; I knew for a fact it was completely impenetrable, but it would be quite amusing to watch him fly through the air like he had before.

Edward looked sharply at me and then addressed his brother, without ever taking his eyes off mine. "Emmett, see if you could get rid of this." He gestured towards the invisible shield, and his brother smiled mischievously.

"With pleasure," he growled. I just smiled sweetly, and redoubled my focus on the shield, just in case.

Emmett took a running start and launched himself at me, turning on the full capacity of his lethal vampire snarl, complete with his hands outstretched like claws coming at my face. About a foot from my head he suddenly crumpled in midair, and there was one full second where I watched his stunned face make impact with the barrier and squish against the invisible wall. He hit the ground hard and looked up dazed, before he got to his feet again, and with a half-crazed look in his eyes, drew back a rock-like fist and crashed it into the shield. I barely had time to register Austin's raucous laughter before Emmett had recovered from the blow to his hand and attempted to employ brute force in pushing the wall backwards, towards me. It was one of the strangest images I had ever seen in my life; a massive, irritated vampire, face contorted with rage and exertion, pushing with all his might against a seemingly nonexistent invisible barrier. Austin and I laughed and laughed until the mind-reader called his brother off.

"Emmett, that's enough." The expression on the bronze-haired vampire's face was almost as scary as his brother's. His liquid topaz eyes pierced mine and he hissed, his voice like melting honey, "Why have you come here?"

Even though I knew there was an impassable barrier between us, I had to admit he was sort of terrifying, and I took a step backwards. Austin moved with me, angling his body so that he was between me and the mind-reader.

"We were looking for some place to live, somewhere that might allow us to assimilate back into mainstream society." Austin told him. "We didn't mean to infringe on your territory, and if you want us to leave, we'll go."

"Uhm, no we won't." I pushed past Austin and stepped up as close as I could to the mind-reader, until only my shield and a few inches separated our faces. "Coming here took a lot of planning and a lot of sacrifice for us, and it's taken us weeks to get here. If you don't want to see us anymore, then fine, we'll stay out of your way. But we're not leaving altogether. There has to be enough game in these woods for the four of us to live off of."

The bronze-haired vampire stared back at me, an unfathomable expression on his face. He glanced at his brother, who was looking at him with his eyebrows slightly raised and his tree-trunk-like arms folded against his powerfully built chest.

"Actually, that's sort of the issue. You see, there's not just the two of us." Edward looked at his brother, the hint of a crooked grin playing adorably around his mouth.

"Oh?" I said, because I was trying to hide from Edward the fear that had crept into my mind at the thought that there may be more of them than Austin and I could handle; after all, I wasn't entirely convinced we could trust these brothers yet.

"Yes," he smirked. "There are nine of us."


	14. Chapter 14

Holy crap. I tried not to let the shock of this revelation register on my face, but then I remembered that Edward was probably reading my reaction straight from my mind anyway.

"Technically, bro," said Emmett, in his deep booming voice that sounded as if he was trying hard not to laugh. "There are only eight and a half of us."

Edward shot his brother a dirty look, though it seemed more lighthearted than angry, like they were enjoying some private joke. I didn't even have the capacity to wonder what Emmett could mean by a half of a vampire, so I decided to focus on the issue at hand, which was that there were, for the sake of argument, nine deadly vampires in the area.

Suddenly, Austin chimed in again. "You don't have any powers, do you?" he asked, directing the question at Emmett. Edward glanced between Austin and his brother, who was narrowing his eyes and subconsciously flexing his muscles.

"Not particularly," he growled through clenched teeth.

Austin grinned triumphantly and turned towards me. "I thought so," he said.

Just then I remembered how Austin had realized earlier that Edward could read minds, and it was only occurring to me now how mysterious that was. "Austin, how could you know that?"

Austin's eyes were bright and excited as he moved closer to me, and he seemed to shiver with anticipation. "Skye, I think I might have a special ability, like you! And that guy," he added in, jerking his head in Edward's direction, who rolled his eyes. "When I would look at you, it was like I'd get this little message in my brain that said 'shields', but I didn't think anything of it because I already knew that was your power. Plus, I'd never met another unfamiliar vampire besides you, so I thought it was normal. But now, when I look at him," Austin gestured once more towards Edward, and this time Edward interrupted. Evidently Austin either didn't care enough to remember his name correctly, or was doing it on purpose to annoy him.

"It's Edward, and you know it, I can hear your thoughts," Edward hissed, and he attempted to take a step closer but was held up by my shield.

Austin brushed off Edward's scathing remark by shrugging his shoulders and continuing his story, never taking his eyes off me. "When I look at him, the little flag in my brain says 'mind-reader'. And when I look at Emmett, I get nothing." Emmett made a disgruntled sound, but Austin pretended not to hear him. I had never seen him so ecstatic about anything since that time a few weeks ago we had hunted a large bear and Austin had taken the beast down himself, without any help from me or my powers.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed, and we high-fived. I was thrilled for Austin; I had always suspected that he was slightly disappointed that he never seemed to develop any special abilities like mine. I felt sure that if he had any, they would have manifested themselves before now, and I had been getting worried that he really didn't have a special talent. But now, I couldn't be happier for him, and it made my heart feel so light to see how excited he was at this surprise; his adorable face was overjoyed, and his topaz eyes sparkled.

The sound of gagging brought Austin and I out of our private little celebration, and I looked over to see Emmett faking throwing up into a bush. His head resurfaced and he had leaves in his hair, but he was grinning mockingly at us.

"I hate to break up this little love-fest," Edward smirked. "But my brother and I need to finish hunting, and then return to our family."

"Wait," I said, and I broke away from Austin and started towards Edward. I realized now how lucky we were that we actually had run into vampires; wasn't this what we had been hoping for all along? To find others like us who could take us in and hopefully teach us to live normally in society again?

"That wasn't an open invitation." Edward said coldly, his eyes flashing, as he read in my mind my unspoken request to join his family. I recoiled slightly, but decided to persist.

"Please," I begged. "You can read our minds, you know better than anyone that we mean no harm. And we're not untamed newborns; we've been feeding off animals for months. And I know it's a big favor to ask, but all we want is a chance to be normal again." I looked at Edward beseechingly, trying desperately to convince him that Austin and I wouldn't be any trouble to his family. These vampires seemed different from the ones I had encountered before; they were more human, less savage animal. I realized that it may be next to impossible to find another large family like theirs that shared mine and Austin's view on eating animals rather than people.

Edward and Emmett looked from each other to Austin and I, and we all stared wordlessly for a moment or two at each other. Finally, Emmett broke the silence.

"I think we should fight them to the death," he said into a shocked silence, a wicked grin on his face. "I'll take the little blonde one."

Austin, though evidently bothered by being called 'little', took an involuntary step backwards as he assessed Emmett's huge muscles and apparent fondness of violence and brutality. Obviously Emmett's ego was still a tad bruised from when Austin had so carelessly cast him off as less important, because Emmett had no powers.

"No, thanks," I said, because Austin seemed unable to speak at all.

Edward gave his brother a patronizing look, and then reassured us, "We're not going to fight you. But I think it's a good idea for my brother and I to check with our family first, before we accept you. It's a big responsibility for us to take on two new vampires, especially at a time like this."

I wondered what Edward meant by this comment, but decided not to push my luck any further by asking. Besides, I was still quite hungry, and my deer was definitely cold by now; Austin and I would have to hunt again.

Edward gave me a curt nod to show that he appreciated my not butting in about his family's business, and then gestured to Emmett to follow him. "Meet us here at noon tomorrow, in this very spot, so we can tell you what the family's decided."

I nodded and waited for them to retreat to another area of the forest to hunt before I took down my shield. I could hear them chatting as they ran, Emmett voicing disappointment that he didn't get to have a go at fighting us and asking Edward if he thought they could rustle up any grizzly bears at this time of the season.

Austin exhaled a sigh of relief and turned back to his deer, saw that it was cold, and grimaced. "Let's go hunt again, shall we?" he asked, grinning at me.

"Absolutely," I replied, and we took off into the woods, in the opposite direction from where Edward and Emmett had head


	15. Chapter 15

At a little before noon the next day Austin and I were lounging on branches at the top of a lofty oak tree. It was easy to find our way back to the place we had agreed to meet, because we could smell the stale deer's blood from a mile away. We had decided to hang out up in a nearby tree so hopefully we could escape a little bit of the disgusting scent of the old blood, but it wasn't working too well; the air at the top of the oak still smelled extremely unappetizing.

Austin was lying on his side, perched precariously on a limb that was a foot above mine. He had propped himself up by an elbow, and was looking down at me as we talked. The sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees, and it made his hair shine like gold and his liquid topaz eyes sparkle down at me. He was so beautiful, and suddenly I was relieved that he couldn't read my mind like Edward could.

As much as I was glad that we had found what we had been looking for in this family of vampires, I had a feeling that I was going to miss these carefree days where it was just Austin and I together. He was my best, and only, friend. Every day with him had been so enjoyable, and I never realized how lucky I was that I had him all to myself for so many months.

But I was still glad he was with me; I don't think I would have been able to face moving in with an unfamiliar group of vampires without my best friend. I knew that he cared about me and that he would watch out for me until we were settled. I could always count on Austin to be by my side and to look out for me, like he always had.

"So, Supergirl," he asked me, grinning. "What do you think? Are we in or out?" He laughed lightheartedly, as if he really couldn't care less either way.

"I'm not sure," I said, looking down at the leaves I was tearing apart with my fingers. "I'm just happy Edward decided to even consider it in the first place. They could have banished us from their territory and we wouldn't have been able to do much about it."

"Oh, please," he said in an exasperated way. "You know we could have taken them, no problem." He raised his eyebrows at me and smiled, revealing his perfect white teeth. "Especially with your powers," he added.

"Oh, really?" I retorted. "Well, then, why didn't you have a go at Emmett when you had the chance? You didn't seem as eager back there when he was flexing his muscles at you." I looked at him with a disbelieving expression on his face, measuring his reaction.

"Okay, first," he defended, "I was in the middle of a revelation then. I wasn't, you know, on my guard." I rolled my eyes, and Austin grinned. "And second, I couldn't get at him because your stupid shield was in the way!"

I threw the leaves I had shredded up at him, and some stuck in his hair, but he just laughed me off. "Hey! I was protecting both of us from getting killed, thank you very much," I said huffily, as I grabbed another fistful of leaves.

Austin beamed at me until I muttered, "Coward," under my breath, and he stuck out his tongue at me.

"I heard that, you know," he said sternly, but the corners of his mouth turned up.

"I know," I replied, and smiled sweetly. Then, I had a more serious thought. "Austin, what are we going to do if they refuse to let us live with them?"

Austin shrugged his shoulders in an offhand way, but I knew him better; I could tell he had been thinking about this as well.

"Guess we'll just have to move on, like we always do. There are other towns like Forks, we'll go to one of those instead."

I looked down at my hands, slowly destroying a thin leaf. We were quiet for a couple minutes, before Austin broke the silence.

"Hey," he said, as he reached down and tilted my face upwards with his hand under my chin. "It's gonna be okay, I promise." His golden eyes searched mine, imploring me, and I wished I could believe him, but I couldn't. There were so many things that could go wrong with Austin and I on our own, with nobody of our kind to help guide us. What if we tried to live in a town by ourselves, and accidentally killed someone? Or what if we were discovered and captured, and the Volturi were forced to step in?

"How are you so sure that it'll be alright? I feel like I've been living each day at a time, just wondering when we're gonna get caught, or when one of us is going to make a wrong move. I just want to feel safe, for once." I looked away from his gorgeous eyes, because they looked so hurt, I couldn't bear to look into them any longer.

When Austin finally spoke, it was barely more than a whisper. "You're always safe with me, Skye. I'll never let anything happen to you, I swear it. I care too much about you to let you get hurt. Skye, I think I----"

"Wait," I interrupted. "Do you smell that?"

Austin looked like he was disappointed to be cut short when he was obviously about to say something important, but I couldn't worry about that just then. Because I had smelled that wet-dog odor that Austin and I had smelled on the outskirts of town, the one that had almost made me gag. But it was much stronger than what we had smelled a few days ago, and it was getting more and more heavy.

Austin sniffed the air and then shook his head. "No, that's just the day-old deer down there. Listen, Skye----"

But I held up my finger once again, and this time Austin let out an exasperated sigh. "What? What is it that could possibly be so important?" he huffed angrily, but suddenly, he had smelled it too, and his eyes widened in shock.

I just pointed down below us on the ground, where two wolves, larger than any bear I had ever seen, were circling the base of our tree, growling in the back of their throats. "Those," I whispered.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey everybody!**

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**so enjoy, and let me know what you think!**

The great snarling beasts were as tall and thick as horses, with long snouts and fiercely bared teeth. As soon as they saw we had noticed them, they roared loudly, and the sound cut through the forest, causing a flock birds to erupt squawking from a nearby tree.

"Oh, my," I said feebly. I was practically paralyzed with fear. I had felt afraid when I was fighting Roland, but I wasn't_ this_ scared; these beasts were so much larger than me, and their teeth looked menacingly sharp. I wondered fleetingly if they would shake us down from the tree; they certainly looked big and muscular enough to accomplish this.

Suddenly, I was being lifted up and backwards, as Austin pulled me up by the arm to the branch he was sitting on. He crouched and hissed, baring his teeth at the prowling wolves below us. They answered him with reverberating snarls, and one of them went up on his hind legs and crashed his dinner-plate sized paws against the trunk. The tree wobbled frighteningly, and I heart it crack somewhere down near where the wolf had impacted it.

"What _are_ they?" I asked weakly, trying to figure out if I had ever heard of a species of wolves that were larger than horses and lived this close to towns.

"I dunno, but whatever they are, they're pretty hideous, aren't they?" Austin flashed me a fleeting grin, before the wolves began attacking the tree with renewed vigor, markedly growling up at Austin.

"Austin, I think they heard you," I whispered. It sounded impossible when I said it aloud, but there was something like intelligence behind the large brown eyes of the russet wolf. Its head had snapped in Austin's direction when he had made that comment about them, and now they seemed more intent than ever to knock us out of the tree.

"Skye, we're going to have to jump," Austin called as he grabbed my hand. We leapt together to a different tree, but because we were holding hands, we slipped a little when we landed. Austin lurched forward and smashed his head on the trunk, and I gasped.

"Are you alright?" I asked him worriedly, but he just grinned.

"Of course I am, Skye," he said, a little exasperatedly. "Invincible vampire, remember?" I didn't reply, but began to climb agilely upward, scaling the branches easily with Austin beside me.

The wolves abandoned the tree we had just deserted and began pushing on the one we were in now. My earlier suspicions had been right: they were trying to knock the tree over and cause us to topple out of it. They were shaking the tree so violently that it was practically swaying.

"They're just not going to give up, are they?" I asked Austin, and he smiled at me for a brief second, before one of the wolves let out a horrifying howl.

I glanced at Austin, hoping with all my might that he was formulating a plan. He nodded grimly, and then stated, "Right. We're going down there."

"Excuse me?" I half-shouted at him. "I know you hit your head, but are you by any chance completely _mental_?"

"Look," Austin turned to me, his expression grave. "They're just going to keep chasing us from tree to tree until we go down there. At least if we can fight them off, we can run away and hopefully they won't be fast enough to catch up."

I looked down at the wolves again, taking in their claws, massive hunched shoulders, and curved, dripping fangs.

"Okay," I said simply, and shrugged my shoulders, if reluctantly. I trusted Austin implicitly, and he was right; our only chance of escaping would be to run.

"Skye, when we get down there, I want you to shield us, as quickly as you can, alright?" Austin looked at me urgently, and I nodded back.

And then we jumped.

We landed catlike on our feet, right next to the tree trunk. The wolves bounded towards us, but I set up a shield immediately, reinforcing it with the power of my mind to make it extra sturdy. Even though I was convinced of the durability of my barrier, I braced myself for the first wolf's impact. However, nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

As soon as the wolf collided with the barrier, it let out its most earsplitting roar yet, lowered its immense shoulders, and then crashed straight through my shield.

The force of this blow was highly concentrated and hit my very consciousness with all the unforgiving steel power of a steam engine, causing me to black out. I woke up only half a second later, but I was thirty feet from where I had been hit, and I was covered in dirt and leaves, as if I had smashed through trees on my flight.

From where he was struggling with a wolf on his own, Austin screamed, "Skye!" and then flung the beast off of him with one mighty heave.

He rushed to my side and flung me over his shoulder, because I was dizzy and couldn't move on my own. I was trembling; I had never been so scared in my life.

Austin had less than a second to leap up into a tree before the snarling and spitting wolves converged on the spot where he had picked me up. I knew I must be extremely heavy for Austin to carry, but he tried his best not to jostle me as he bounded from branch to branch, calling my name so that I wouldn't pass out again. I had no idea vampires had the capability to pass out; but then again, I don't think any other vampire had ever experienced a mental shock like the one I had just received.

Finally, Austin laid me down on a wide branch, and he hovered over me, looking pained and on the verge of tears. "Skye, Skye are you all right? Oh god, I can't believe I let this happen, how could I have been so stupid?"

Despite the fact that I was feeling extremely lightheaded, I reached up with a colossal effort and Austin cradled my hand in his. "It's not your fault…" I trailed off, fighting to maintain consciousness.

"Please, Skye, please don't go," The sound of Austin's beautiful angel's voice filled with so much hopelessness and desperation made my aching heart crumble. Austin lowered his face down until it was centimeters from mine, and his gorgeous golden eyes filled my universe.

And then he kissed me, and even in the middle of my pain it was pure bliss. My unbeating heart felt the warmest it had in months, and it was at this moment that I knew I was in love with Austin.

Just then, the wolves growling grew louder, and I knew they had caught up to us. Austin broke away reluctantly and looked down beside me towards the ground, and expression immediately turned again into fear.

"Edward, no! Watch out!"

I turned my head a fraction of an inch to the side so I could look down, and I saw Edward, his windswept bronze hair settling around his face, emerging from the trees below.

"Jake! Paul! Stop!" he called, and I realized belatedly that he must be referring to the wolves. They stopped growling immediately, and I had barely enough time to dimly register the fact that Austin had actually remembered Edward's name before I passed out again.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey guys! sorry this one's so short, i promise the next will be much longer!!!**

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When I awoke, I didn't open my eyes right away, because my brain was buzzing and I couldn't remember where I was. My head felt foggy and I didn't think I could have roused myself if I tried. So instead, I kept perfectly still, which wasn't hard to do, and relied on my other senses to tell me where I was. I couldn't smell the forest anymore, so I thought I must be somewhere indoors. I was laying flat on my back on a table of some sort, and there was something soft under my head. Then the sound of muted voices reached my ears.

"When will she wake up?" That was Austin's voice, and he sounded extremely concerned. The memories of the scene in the woods flooded back to me, and I thought of the way Austin had kissed me. That moment was one of the most heavenly moments of my life; I just wish I hadn't been semiconscious during it.

"It could be anytime. The force of the impact on her mind was almost unendurable for her; when she does wake, she'll be very weak." I had never heard this voice before, but it was very soothing.

"But I thought vampires couldn't get sick or hurt?" That was Austin again. He sounded polite, but there was an edge of annoyance to his voice.

"Physically, we can't. Our invincibility is unlimited in most scenarios. However, as vampires, we have the ability to harm each other because we are made of the same substance." I thought of how I had ripped Roland's limbs off, as I had seen him do to my attacker nearly eight months ago. "But Skye's wound is not physical or tangible; it is inside her mind, because that is the source of her power. Unfortunately, though our endless years can give us great stores of knowledge, vampires' minds are just as easily manipulated and able to be damaged as human brains are."

Austin was quiet as he thought this over, and I was too. I hoped that the shock to my psyche would heal without any scars, and that I would retain all my memories. Then, I thought of something that made me enormously anguished, but Austin asked my question almost as if we had been thinking the same thing.

"And her powers? She'll still have them, right?"

The soothing voice hesitated, then finally answered. "Yes, I think so. It's too early to tell. Because of the mental strain she had been exerting on building up that barrier, the fact that it was broken only made the damage to her mind worse. When she's capable, she'll have to try out her powers. It may take her some practice to get back up to the level of expertise she previously possessed."

Austin didn't answer again but I could feel and hear him come to my side. He took my hand in both of his and traced my fingers with his own. The way he held my hand was so tender, it was like he was afraid to hurt me.

"This is all my fault, it was my idea to go down to the wolves. I placed her in danger, and I'll never forgive myself." Austin's voice was so pained that I wished I could respond, tell him that of course it wasn't his fault, but I was too weak.

"Austin, don't beat yourself up. There was no way you could have anticipated that her powers had a flaw, especially since they had never shown any limitations before. You mustn't blame yourself; it's nobody's fault." I was grateful to the peaceful voice for saying what I was incapable of telling Austin myself for the moment.

Austin's hands gripped mine a bit tighter, and when he spoke, his voice was bitter and filled with anger. "I know whose fault it is," he spat. "It's those filthy, dimwitted wolves' fault."

The voice sighed and said, "Austin, they couldn't have known that you two weren't dangerous. They were just doing their job, as they tried to explain to you earlier."

Austin snorted disbelievingly, but he lessened his tense grip on my fingers. I felt him relax beside me, and he exhaled, sounding emotionally worn and defeated. "Yes, I know. You're right, Carlisle. Thank you." Austin stroked my fingers again, and I could almost feel his eyes staring at me as I lay there, under the pretense of sleeping.

"I'll leave you now," Carlisle murmured as he slid from the room.

When we were alone, Austin stroked my hair and kissed my forehead ever so gently with his cool lips. "Hey there, Supergirl," he whispered. I could picture him smiling sweetly, his gorgeous topaz eyes shining down at me. I wished I could wake myself up enough to respond to him, but my brain was still muddled and I didn't have the energy to force myself to move. "You gotta wake up soon, okay? I miss you too much."

My brief few minutes of concentration had left me even more drained than I thought they would, and I could feel myself drifting off again. My mind started to recede deeper into itself as I began losing consciousness, and then I faded away completely.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey everyone :D**

**Thanks to those of you who made it this far into my story! hahahaha**

**I know it's long, but I've got so many cool ideas coming up.... including an additional power for Austin? You guys will just have to wait and see!! And make sure you keep reviewing, and telling others about my story! (;**

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**And again, I don't own Twilight, blah, blah, blah.....**

When I woke up for the second time, I was in the exact same position as before, laying down on something flat. But this time, my head wasn't buzzing and my limbs no longer felt leaden and disconnected. My eyes snapped open, and the first thing I saw was Austin; he was sitting right next to me in a chair, his hand holding mine.

"Hi." He smiled warmly at me, looking immensely relieved that I had finally regained consciousness.

"How long have I been out for?" I asked, my voice sounding a tad groggy.

Austin's eyes narrowed infinitesimally before he answered, "Two days."

"Woah. Two whole days?" I sat up a little too quickly and felt a stab of pain in my head and I clutched it with my hands. The ache pulsated in my mind, making my eyes go funny and causing a ringing in my ears. I squeezed my eyes shut and whimpered.

"Are you okay?" Austin reached out with his hand and laid it gently across my forehead. I knew he wouldn't be able to detect anything, especially a change in my body temperature, but I felt almost feverish.

"Yeah, it's just that my brain hurts a bit." I smiled feebly, but Austin just looked anxious. I could tell he didn't believe me; he always knew when I was covering up. But this time, he decided not to push it. He must have been really glad I was even awake in the first place.

"Listen, Skye, I am so sorry. This is all my fault, if I hadn't---"

I silenced him with my hand, and he bit his lip adorably. "Of course it's not your fault. Carlisle was right; you could have never known that my shields wouldn't hold up against the wolves."

"You were awake?" Austin looked at me incredulously, so I just nodded.

"I couldn't move at all though, I felt like I was paralyzed. My whole brain was foggy and I had trouble concentrating for more than a few minutes on what you two were saying."

Austin nodded solemnly and then sighed. "I thought you were dead," he said flatly.

"Technically, I am." I smiled a bit, because I wanted Austin to stop worrying.

He looked at me disgustedly, but the corners of his mouth were twitching, as if he was fighting a smile. "You mean _un_-dead. Big difference, Skye."

I rolled my eyes and looked around the room, taking in my surroundings for the first time. I was in a spacious room, and everything, from the smooth leather sofa to the wardrobe in the corner, looked pristine and white. I was lying on a raised table covered with a thin blanket, and there was a small white cushion for my head. I looked down at myself and gasped.

"What is _this_?" Somebody had changed me into a flowing magenta sundress that tied with a black satin bow around my waist and went out, stopping in graceful arcs just above my knees. I was horrified; who had changed me? The only vampires I knew about were all men, and I certainly didn't want any of them, least of all Austin, to see me undressed.

"Alice picked it out for you." Austin grinned, but I just raised my eyebrows. Suddenly comprehension dawned on his face, and I imagined he would have blushed if he had the ability. Instead he looked away and cleared his throat loudly before he said, "And, ah, you know… she put it on you. We, meaning the guys, weren't in here… you know, for that, uh, part." Austin looked so utterly uncomfortable that I laughed out loud, and he turned back to me, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Where are we anyway? And who's Carlisle?" As far as I could tell, we were in a beautiful and expensive-looking house. Then I noticed that Austin had changed his clothes too: he now had on a pair of dark, almost black jeans, and a black v-neck shirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. The shirt hugged him in all the right places, making the cool hard muscles on his chest and forearms stand out.

"Edward's house. After he called off the wolves he took us straight back here. Carlisle and Esme Cullen are his foster parents, and Carlisle's a doctor. They tell the humans in town that all the teenagers are adopted kids." Austin grinned and raised his eyebrows, like this amused him very much. "So, do you wanna meet the family?"

"I want to," I hesitated. "But there's something else I have to try out first." Austin pressed his lips into a grim line, like he knew I would bring this up sooner or later.

"Wait," he looked like he felt sorry for me. "I take it you heard what Carlisle said? That it may take a bit for you to get back the same level of control you had before?"

"Yeah," I replied, politely but firmly. " I understand."

Austin nodded and sat back in his chair, watching me closely. I shut my eyes and pointed my finger in midair in front of me, and concentrated intensely. I felt the familiar surge of power shoot down my finger, and I couldn't help but to let a warm smile spread across my face. I opened my eyes and saw Austin grinning widely, and then he let out a joyous laugh, sounding like an angel. He cupped the small round shield in his hands, then gave it a small flick with his finger. It stayed put and didn't waver; I still had my powers.

"Awesome, Supergirl!" Austin's praise lifted my spirits immensely, and I loved the feeling of knowing he was proud of me. With a flourish of my wrist I made the barrier disappear, and Austin leaned in to hug me. He held me tight, and as I breathed in the sweet scent coming off him, I thought I would love to stay like this forever.

But it was time to meet the Cullens.

I pulled back and took a deep breath. Austin, still smiling, said, "Ready?"

I nodded and Austin helped me slide gingerly off the table. My mind didn't hurt at all; not even a twinge. It was the best outcome I could have hoped for.

Austin slipped his arm around my waist and we walked to the door, side by side. I realized how much I relied on Austin to be there for me, and to take care of me. I hoped that moving in with the Cullens, if they would allow it, wouldn't make us grow apart. Also, I was worried about being accepted in their family; who knows how many years they had had together, to get to know one another? Austin and I were the strangers, and we would have to try our best to fit in.

Before I turned the handle, I paused. Austin knew exactly what I was thinking: "They're gonna love you Skye," he said softly, in my ear. "You worry too much." He winked at me, and pulled open the door.

**Hope you liked it, and don't forget to leave me a review! I know its been a few really quiet chapters in a row, alot of Skye/Austin time in there. But I plan on having a little heart to heart with Edward and Skye next chapter or two, so stay tuned! And while you're at it, go check out twirlgirl1996's stories! **


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey guys!**

**Thank you all for putting up with me, I know I haven't update in a while. But here's an extra long chapter, just for all of you!**

**I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to leave a review with your comments and suggestions!**

In the brightly lit hallway stood nine vampires, all with topaz eyes and breathtaking features. The first thing I noticed, however, was the smell; there was a strong smell of wet dog, so much like the wolves had smelled in the forest that it startled me. Austin tightened his arm securely around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I could also hear a faint heartbeat, a soft pounding of blood coursing through veins, and I abruptly stopped inhaling. Besides, the wolf smell was so concentrated, it was almost too much for me.

All the way on the left, there was a young man with wavy blonde hair who I took to be Carlisle, as he was wearing a crisp white lab coat. He had his arm around a beautiful woman with chestnut brown hair that waved to her shoulders, and she was smiling kindly at me. I wondered how the humans could possibly believe that they were parents; they looked as though they couldn't be much older than their children.

Then there was Emmett, with his curly dark hair and his arm around a statuesque girl, whose blonde hair fell in curls halfway down her back. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't openly snarling either. Emmett, on the other hand, was grinning broadly at Austin and I, which made me like him instantly, despite our little encounter before in the forest. "So," I asked him nervously, thinking of the expression on his face back in the woods when I had blocked him with my shield and then laughed. "No hard feelings, right?" Emmett just let out a booming laugh and bellowed, "Course not!" I smiled, and Austin chuckled warily; apparently he was still a little suspicious where Emmett's sizeable muscles were concerned.

Next there were two vampires holding hands sweetly. I had never seen either of them before. One was a tall, leonine boy with wild, honey blonde hair. As I looked into his eyes I felt the tension in my shoulders relax, and I was suddenly calmer. The other was a short, spritely girl with black spiky hair who looked as if she was tingling with anticipation, although, for what, I couldn't imagine.

Towards the end was Edward, with his beautiful bronze-colored hair and his arm protectively placed around the shoulders of a striking brunette. Next to them, the last pair seemed to be the one that had set off my senses a minutes before. The girl looked a bit younger than the rest of them, but it was from her that I could hear the heartbeat, and as I looked I realized that she was a bit less pale than the rest. She was hugging a tall muscular boy with russet skin and jet-black hair. He was smiling down at her, and his white teeth stood out remarkably against his tan skin. He was quite good-looking, though obviously not a vampire; he was the one who smelled so bad to me, like dirt.

Despite the way they were all smiling kindly at me (except the blonde girl, who looked almost bored), I felt terribly self-conscious and over-whelmed.

The vampire on the end in the white coat stepped forward and offered me his hand. "Hello, Skye, you can call me Carlisle." He smiled warmly and then gestured towards the chestnut-haired woman beside him. "Esme is my wife. I believe you've met Emmett and Edward." I smiled at each of them in turn, and then wondered if Edward was reading my mind right now. I didn't want him to know how pathetic I sounded in my own mind, with my bothersome thoughts of not being accepted. Austin always told me that I worried too much, and he was probably right. "And this is Rosalie, Emmett's wife," Carlisle motioned towards the gorgeous blonde, who raised her eyebrows. Emmett grinned and elbowed her in the side, and she rolled her eyes. "And this is Bella, Edward's wife." The girl next to Edward with the dark mahogany hair smiled sweetly.

"This is Jasper, and Alice." Carlisle indicated the pair of vampires I had never seen before, and I thought how unusual and old-fashioned all of their names were, like from a different era. I wondered how old each of them were, how many wars they had experienced, and how many countries they had lived in. The way they were standing properly, their postures and movements, gave off the aura of sophistication and knowledge. How could Austin and I, two random teenagers who knew barely anything about the world, possibly compete?

"And finally, Renesme is Edward and Bella's daughter, and this is Jacob, her boyfriend, for lack of a better term." I had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but I didn't have the nerve to ask. Then I realized that Edward and Bella could hardly both be older than seventeen; yet their daughter looked almost as old as them. I decided not to question that, figuring I would be told at some point, and instead nodded politely at both of them. However, I couldn't squash my involuntary reaction to wrinkle my nose when I turned towards Jacob; in such a small, enclosed space, his stench was quite strong. I caught Edward's eye and he grinned sympathetically at me, and I looked away, embarrassed.

Carlisle turned back to me, and clasped his hands together. "Okay, well, I'll let Alice take you two around, show you the house. We're going to try to function as normally as possible around here, so that you can see how we work and get settled."

"Thank you, Carlisle," Austin said, and I nodded. Alice bounced forward, grinning widely and taking my hand. Her enthusiasm was contagious; Austin and I glanced at each other and grinned as she dragged us up the stairs.

Before long, I realized how talkative Alice was; she chatted endlessly about the rooms, the famous paintings and artifacts on the walls, and the layout of the house. Austin had seen most of this before, being that he had had to love here for two days while I was unconscious. But he didn't mind going over it again with me, and I was, as usual, glad he was there next to me.

The entire backside of the house was made completely of glass, which I hadn't expected. Everything was beautiful and clean, and each room was kept spotless. Alice told us stories about how each of them were changed; the stories sometimes disturbed me, particularly Esme's and Rosalie's. They didn't seem to bother Alice as much, perhaps because she's grown used to hearing them.

"So, you tell the future?" Austin asked Alice, as we were exiting Carlisle's study.

She looked at him surprised, her spiky black hair tickling her pale cheeks as she turned around to glance at Austin. "Well, yes, actually." As if right on cue, her eyes suddenly went unfocused, and Alice stared off into space for a moment. Austin and I glanced at each other apprehensively, but before we could be alarmed Alice had already snapped out of it. She shook her head and smiled, her tiny white teeth gleaming. "Okay, where were we?"

Austin was frozen, staring at Alice for two full seconds before I flicked his ear and he shuddered. "Oh, right. Uhm… Well, I already knew that Edward could read minds. And then, Jasper… he can control emotions?" Alice nodded enthusiastically, and I thought back to when I had looked into Jasper's golden eyes and my nerves had suddenly seemed to loosen up. I hadn't thought anything of it then, but I realized now it had probably been him, calming me down. That could be really useful at times… or agitating at others, depending on how he made use of his powers in certain situations.

"And Renesme, she can project mental images through touch?" This one confused me; it sounded like she could make other people see her thoughts in their own minds, just by touching them.

"Yeah," Alice replied as she led us down the hallway, towards two doors that faced each other." It was really convenient when she was a baby, and besides, it got all of us out of a really tough spot with the Volturi fifty years ago."

Alice paused outside a white door, and then clapped her hands together. She was tingling with excitement, and went up on her tiptoes so she could look at us with shining eyes. "Skye, this is your new room." With a flourish, Alice opened the door, and swept into the room.

It was spectacular. Everything from the walls to the carpet was coordinated in matching colors of chocolate brown and baby blue. It reminded me of the flawless rooms that were displayed in the beautifully glossed furniture catalogs. The carpet was a rich brown, and the walls were a light blue. There was a dark brown leather couch in the corner and a tall wardrobe that was carved with elegant flowers, and two brass handles on the front. There was an elegant dresser in the same wood as the wardrobe, and it had a large round mirror set behind it. There were small, softly lit lanterns hanging orb-like from the ceiling.

The bed had a beautiful swirling bedspread on it, a blend of brown and blue flowers and spirals. The head- and foot-boards were an antiqued brass, which matched the handles and knobs on the dresser, wardrobe, and closet.

I had never seen a more beautiful room in my life.

I looked over at Alice, feeling the premonition of tears, but knowing they wouldn't come. Her eyes shone with pride, and instead of trying to think of something that could possibly tell her how thankful I was, I just went over and hugged her tight.

"Wait until you see all the clothes I bought for you!" I widened my eyes at her, unaccustomed to being given so many expensive things at once. "Well, I had two whole days while you were out." She smiled sheepishly, and Austin grinned.

**I promise I will update as fast as my current vacationing status allows. But, in the meantime, check out Shooting StarZzZ's awesome twin stories, based on Alice and Jasper's views on Twilight. They're, uhm, AWESOME! So seriously, do it. And make sure you leave her a review, as you all very kindly do for me. I know she appreciates it as much as I do. **

**And thank you all for continuing to be so supportive, you have no idea how much it means to me!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey everybody!**

**Thank you all for being so patient, I will be home from my vacation tomorrow and as of then I will have Internet access 24/7, baby! God, life is painful without the Internet.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this one. It's my longest so far, and it has some sweet Skye/Austin moments. The next chapter is something I've been planning for a while and I'm really excited about it, I'm gonna try my darnedest to have it up nice and quick for ya!**

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**Thanks again for keeping track of my story, you guys are the best!**

**haha I'll let you read now... :D**

It was summer in Forks, though you wouldn't know it; the rain came down in sheets as cold as ever, and the landscape was still covered in sodden vegetation. The trees dripped despondently down onto the moss covered forest floor as Austin and I walked along. It had been almost a month since we had arrived at the Cullens' and started our new life with them, and school at Forks High would be starting in only a week.

The last time the Cullens' had lived here, in the same house, was fifty years ago. This was long enough, in their opinion, for time to wear away any lingering memories of them that the townspeople might have. It was important that vampires kept moving, the Cullens' explained, or people would become too suspicious of their eternally young, unchanging appearances. So they had left and then, when it had seemed safe, they returned, as there were limited locations that would support their lifestyle.

Austin was quiet as we walked at human pace under the canopy of trees, his topaz eyes sparkling as he looked around at our surroundings. He seemed lost in thought, and I wished I could smooth out the lines of worry that were etched into the cool expanse of his alabaster brow. I squeezed his hand, and his eyes refocused, locking onto mine. He grinned, which lit up his face and made him look like a young, gorgeous angel.

"What were you thinking about?" I asked, not fooled by his quick cover-up smile, not matter how breathtaking it was.

Austin sighed and hung his head, helping me step over a fallen log even though I could have jumped it myself. "I guess I'm still… anxious, you know, about school. All those humans with their pulsing blood, all cramped up in a room with me." The corners of his mouth turned down and he shut his eyes, making him look like he was in pain. "I mean, what if something happens?"

I looked away from him to allow myself some time to think. The truth was that I had been considering this fact for days, fretting over whether my self-control would hold. I knew I would probably have a harder time than Austin; I had been feeding on humans for months before he came along, and he only truly tasted human blood once. After that first time he ate a homeless person, he had suggested we try hunting animals instead.

"Austin, your self-restraint is even more sound than mine is. If either one of us should get worried, it should be me."

Austin nudged me toward a tall oak tree, and we scaled it in seconds. We sat together on a sturdy branch, and I stared into Austin's face. The rain had soaked his hair, making it a few shades darker than its usual fair blonde color. Even though we were under a covering of trees, the rain still found its way through the branches and dripped onto our heads. A single drop slid from Austin's hair down his pale cheek, making it look like he might be crying.

"That's not true," he said to me, tearing a fistful of leaves off the branch overhead. "Because you have your powers. If you get too carried away, at least you know you can physically stop yourself. I'll have nothing to stand in my way. "

I shook my head. "I don't think it's going to be that easy for me. If I really get carried away, I'll probably just get rid of the barrier myself and go at it."

Austin's face was grave as he nodded, realizing that my powers probably would not contain me as successfully as they do others, simply because I was the one in control of them. But then he smiled, a tiny lift at the corner of his mouth. "Looks like we're both screwed then, pretty much." I laughed, but I could see through his attempt to lighten the mood; I had never known him to get this worried about anything. Then again, innocent lives would be in jeopardy from the moment the pair of us walked into that school. If either of us made a mistake, what would that mean for our new family? They had made so many changes to their lifestyle to accept us, and all of them had been perfectly gracious (or at least indifferent, in Rosalie's case). I was just beginning to feel like I could fit in with them, and the last thing I would want to do would be to cause them trouble. I could tell that the same circuit of thoughts was spinning through Austin's mind as he traced circles on my palm with his finger.

"Carlisle trusts us both," I said in a small voice, whether to reassure Austin or myself I wasn't sure. "He thinks we're strong enough."

Austin nodded, but the corners of his mouth were turned down again, an expression that weighed down on my unbeating heart like a heavy stone. I could deal with my own pain and anxiety, but I couldn't watch Austin endure his.

"And hey," I gave a half-hearted attempt at a smile. "Maybe we'll have some classes together."

"I hope so," he grinned, and then smoothed back a dark strand of my hair that had escaped from behind my ear. I was glad that the two of us had decided to escape the house today; when we were always surrounded by vampires with ultra-sensitive hearing, it was hard to have a private conversation. Out here in the peaceful woods, sitting in a tree with Austin reminded me so much of the time we had spent together, just the two of us, before we had come to Forks. All at once I had a pang of longing to return to those days, where we had all the time in the world to talk, run, and laugh with each other. It felt almost like a dream, and now I had woken up; we were going back to school, trying to be human again. The insecurities in me made me unsure of whether being 'normal' again would ultimately serve to wedge Austin and I apart.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked me, bringing me out of my tangle of emotional thoughts. "Your face just got really sad all of a sudden." His face wore a frown that matched my own.

I wasn't comfortable with sharing my exact thoughts with Austin. I remembered the kiss we had shared in the woods, the day the wolves attacked me, but neither of us had brought it up again after that. I was afraid to ask if he had truly meant something with that kiss, or if he had been caught up in the moment because he thought I was dying. We would hold hands occasionally, but it never felt more than friendly, like how we always were. And as Austin's bedroom was across the hall from mine, we would often spend hours sitting cross-legged on my bed, talking late into the night. As of right now, I wasn't sure where our relationship stood; we seemed to be teetering on the edge, caught in between the comfort of being best friends and the mysteriously alluring concept of becoming more than that.

"Just, you know, worried I guess." I bit my lip and looked down, smelling out where a squirrel was scratching its way through the underbrush. I watched it poke through the wet leaves on the ground, its gray bristly tail twitching in the air. Then Austin's hand lifted my chin back up, so I was facing him again. His face was kind, but clearly unconvinced.

He raised his eyebrows, and I sighed in defeat. I felt my stomach drop slightly, a nervous tingling that I didn't experience too often as a vampire. "Austin," I didn't know quite how to phrase this in a way that could get my meaning across without being embarrassingly explicit. "Well, you know, Bella has Edward, Alice has Jasper, Rosalie has Emmett… I mean, they're all paired up. They know they have each other, for all eternity. I guess I just want to know that I'll have somebody with me… forever."

I fiddled with a string that was unraveling from the hem of my new t-shirt, not wanting to meet Austin's eyes. I finally peeked up from beneath my lashes, checking to see if he had picked up on my hint, and found him grinning, shaking with silent laughter. "What?" I asked him indignantly, feeling increasingly uncomfortable. "You know what, I never should have told you anything."

I grimaced at him and leapt down from the branch, stalking away from the tree before he could follow me. Nevertheless, I heard the whisper of stirring leaves as Austin left the bough, and the muted squelch of his shoes hit the moist forest floor.

"Skye, wait."

I just flung my hand over my shoulder, using my powers to make a shield to stop Austin. I heard the satisfying thud of his head reverberating off the barrier and smirked to myself, then kept walking.

"Come back here, I have something I have to tell you!" he called.

"I don't care," I huffed, realizing that I sounded exceptionally childlike but not wanting to face Austin. I sped up my walk even though I could hear him knocking along the shield with his knuckles, looking for the edge. My anger ebbed when I heard him slump dispiritedly to the ground, resigned to wait for me to come back to him, as he undoubtedly knew I would. I slowed to a halt, realizing that I wasn't actually mad at Austin, I was really only mad at myself for willingly putting my feelings on the line.

I turned and saw him sitting dejectedly behind my shield, his elbowed propped to hold up his head, drawing shapes in the dirt, still looking adorably handsome. I sighed and walked all the way back to him, then withdrew the shield.

He started to grin at me as he pulled himself up off the ground, but I just glared in response. His smile quickly disappeared, but I could see his mouth twitching in an effort not to laugh. I just raised my eyebrows until his face became more serious, and then he looked down at his feet, kicking at the dirt with his toes. He looked bashful, and his forehead creased up while he was trying to think of what to say. I was hit by a strong feeling in my stomach, an ache to close the distance between us and give Austin a hug. But then he spoke.

"I'll be there for you. Forever."

He looked up, and his golden eyes glowed mesmerizingly against the dark green gloom of the forest. I felt my heart swell, and I couldn't help feeling immensely relieved; it was good to know that I had a strong partner to protect me. I had always felt safe with Austin, and he was my only comfort in my changing world, the only memory that truly stands out clear in my mind.

"I'm sorry that I was laughing earlier," He looked slightly ashamed, but then a smile lit up his face. "But I was just so relieved. I never knew how you felt about me, and I wasn't brave enough to ask."

Austin stepped towards me and took me in his arms, hugging me tightly against him and burying his face in my hair. He smelled so good, and I closed my eyes as I inhaled, reveling in the moment. I felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from my heart, and I hugged Austin closer to me, wishing I would never have to let go.

Austin pulled back, smiling a huge wide grin that made his beautiful face dazzle with radiance. He threw his head back and laughed, a delightful sound of pure joy. He kissed me, and I felt myself relax in his arms, reaching up on my toes so that I could deepen the kiss.

Suddenly a fit of thunder crashed overhead and we broke away, looking up at the towering trees that were now our only inadequate protection from the downpour. We grinned, still embracing, and then Austin said, "We better get back, we promised Alice."

I slid my hand into his as we ambled back to the Cullens' house, perfectly content to walk along in a peaceful quiet. I was no longer apprehensive about starting school; after all, I would have Austin there with me, my guardian angel.

**Hope you liked it, and if you guys have time, check out Shooting StarZzZ's stories, one is Jasper's view on Twilight! I just love Jasper, he's got that whole I-Could-Be-A-Badass-But-You'll-Never-Know-Because-I'm-So-Mysterious thing goin' on. And now you'll know, because my friend wrote a whole story from his perspective! So check it out, and leave her a lovely review, if you don't mind. In any case, I just love Jasper :D (sigh)**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey guys!!**

**I am so incredibly sorry that I haven't updated in so long, things have been pretty crazy this summer, and I've barely been home. **

**But still, I feel like I've left you guys hanging!**

**So here's a little review before you read the next chapter: Austin and Skye have taken up residence with the Cullens and are now poised on the threshold of the start of the school year. Both of them have had minimal contact with humans and are worried about how they will hold up, but their new family has faith in them. Now, only one week before their first day at Forks High, Austin and Skye and the Cullens decide to have a little fun to take their minds off their impending struggle to get close to humans.**

Austin and I ran up towards the Cullens' house, laughing in the now pelting rain. It had started coming down much harder on our way back, and lightning cracked overhead, making the inky sky flash a momentary gold.

We ran hand in hand up the long drive to the Cullens' forest home, taking care to splash in every puddle along the way. As we neared the porch, I could hear voices inside, chatting as they waited for us to return.

When we got under cover of the awning Austin turned towards me and lowered his head, a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of him mouth. I sucked in a breath and felt a swooping in my stomach, knowing he was leaning in to kiss me. I closed my eyes…

…and he shook his sopping blonde curls all over me like a wet dog.

"Argh!" I instinctively put up a shield between us to stop the shower of rainwater. I knew I was already drenched; but who likes being sprayed unexpectedly? Besides, I was incredibly embarrassed at the way he was smirking at me, which let me know he knew I thought he was going to kiss me.

Forgetting I had put a shield up, I went to punch him on the arm and realized at the last second that there would be a barrier in my way. But my fist passed right through and connected with his upper arm as if the buffer wasn't even there. I felt my eyes widen in shock and Austin's expression matched mine. He raised his hand and pressed it up against the wall of solid inflexible air, which was evidently still intact, but for the part where my forearm was poking through. I couldn't feel it at all; there was no ripple or shudder whatsoever as my skin had passed through it.

I withdrew my hand and then did the same thing again, with the same results. Meanwhile Austin was still trapped on the other side, looking perplexed but devastatingly handsome at the same time.

"Wicked," he grinned, nodding his head enthusiastically as if this was completely normal. Then again, just about nothing in a vampire's life is ever normal I suppose.

"So…" I tried to put into words the theory I had formulated. " So, others can't pass through my shields, but I can?"

"Looks like it to me." Austin replied.

"But… but this is terrible! What if we're in school and I have to stop myself and then I can't?" I felt myself taking deep breaths, trying to calm down as I suddenly panicked over this new predicament. Just a few minutes before Austin and I had been laughing, all of our fears dispelled; now, they rushed into my mind, vivid and paralyzing.

I let down the barrier and Austin took my hands and forced me to look at him. "Skye. Calm down. We just talked about this, remember? We already decided that your powers probably would not contain you simply because you were the one in control of them, and this just proves our point. So, relax. You're no worse off now than you were before."

I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and then shook my head. I was such a worrywart sometimes, but Austin always knew what to say to get me to see reason. He was right; I guess I had always known that in the end it would come down to willpower.

"Mind over matter," he grinned again and I relaxed even more, thinking of how the simplest smile from him could make me feel so warm inside.

"Right. Mind over matter. Let's go in, Alice is waiting."

Austin opened the door and stepped inside after me, drawing it shut behind us. Alice bounced forward, her wispy hair floating around her face, a knowing smile on her lips.

"Amazing, huh? I saw that coming a few days ago, but I waited so you could figure it out on your own." Jasper came around the corner and snuck his arm around her tiny waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Ready to go?" he asked us just as another bolt of lightning illuminated the windowpanes. "Perfect night for it." He grinned at us, his white teeth gleaming in the moonlight streaming from the windows.

Austin and I both nodded as the rest of the family came around the corner, not including Jacob; tonight was a special tradition just for the vampires. Renesme, or as I called her now, Rae, came over and hugged me, the scent of her blood filling my nostrils. I immediately stopped breathing and hugged her back.

Jasper swung a bat over his shoulder as we all stepped outside into the downpour, and Emmett tossed a baseball high into the air until it disappeared into the sleeting rain. It came back down at breakneck speed, gaining momentum as it plummeted towards us until it crashed with a thud into Emmett's outstretched palm.

At that we all took off into the woods, running at full speed towards the giant clearing where the Cullens play baseball. Under the cover of the trees, the rain didn't come down quite so ferociously, but we were still all soaked by the time we reached the field, where there were no trees to shield us. Austin's curls were dripping down his forehead as we slowed down in the center of the clearing, and I brushed back my straggly wet hair into a ponytail.

Bella took up the position of umpire, with Esme as catcher and the rest of the family split into a group of fielders and a line of batters. Emmett played all the infield positions himself, and Edward and Austin were in the outfield because they were the fastest of all of us. Rae, Carlisle, Jasper, and Rosalie stood behind me; we were the batters.

I was up at bat first. I grabbed the bat from Jasper and took my place beside our makeshift home plate, a flattish rock half buried in thick green grass. I bobbed the bat over my shoulder, staring down Alice as she wound up her pitch. A millisecond before she released her curveball, my eyes darted to Austin, standing a quarter of a mile across the field. He winked, and I swung.

With a resounding crack like thunder the leather baseball was rocketed into the air, where it was immediately obscured by the torrent of rain. I ran like hell towards our temporary first base, trusting that I could get there before Emmett spotted the ball. After all, I hadn't hit it too hard, hoping that Emmett would be the one to go after it.

Sure enough, in a flash Emmett had located the plunging ball and had leapt into the air, hand outstretched upwards. I quickly materialized a shield right over him, which he crashed into in midair with an echoing thud. He fell like lead back down to the earth as the ball soared over him and embedded itself into the ground twenty feet away.

I cleared first base and then turned to laugh as Emmett hauled himself up, frowning down at the mud smeared all over his previously unspoiled white player's uniform. Edward and Jasper were bent over, hysterical, and even Bella was giggling. I knew what I did was technically cheating, but I couldn't resist; it reminded me of the day I had first met Emmett, watching his enraged face as he rebounded off my barrier. And it was just as funny this time as it had been then.

He looked towards Bella with a pleading look in his eyes, but she just waved him off, apparently deciding she would let it go for the general amusement of the family.

"Way to go, Skye!" Austin's voice called from his place in the outfield, and I got that swooping sensation in my stomach, the same one I had gotten on the porch when I thought he was about to kiss me. The feeling was pleasant and scary at the same time, a nervous tingle that strangely made me want to fix my drenched, untidy hair to make it look less messy. Edward caught my eye and smirked, so I quickly looked away, embarrassed; it was hard to get used to having a mind-reader in the family.

The game went on for another hour, during which I didn't use my powers again; I didn't want to push my luck. One of Rosalie's hits went so far out, it hit the forest behind the field and didn't slow down for half a mile. Edward and Austin both disappeared into the woods, racing to be the one to make the catch. Less than two seconds passed, and Austin jogged out from between the trees, holding the ball clenched tightly in his fist, grinning triumphantly. Edward caught up quickly, shaking his head and looking slightly disgruntled that Austin was still that much faster than him.

I was never a real baseball fan when I was a human, preferring to read books than sit and watch games on television. But playing with the Cullens was something else; vampire baseball was infinitely more exciting, not to mention more impressive.

It was getting late and the rain was still coming down relentlessly, so we decided to head back. Austin ran next to me behind the rest of the family, his soaked t-shirt sticking to the defined muscles in his chest. We watched Emmett arguing with Bella over a disputed call, and Jasper praising Alice for her excellent pitching. Austin and I grinned at each other and intuitively, I knew we were experiencing the same warm feeling that I had gotten the first time I realized I could truly fit in with the Cullen family.

**Hope you guys liked it! I'd been planning this for a few weeks, thinking how cool it would be if Skye could use her powers to spice things up a bit during the baseball game.**

**Also, I hope you guys don't think that I completely butchered Renesme's name by deciding to call her Rae: I know it's not a ****perfect**** nickname to go with Renesme, but I'm sorry, I absolutely CANNOT STAND the nickname 'Nessie', and I pretty much refuse to use it. If I had the name Renesme, I think I'd make people call me Rae. It kinda works, right? I dunno, that's just my opinion. Tell me what you guys think by leaving me a review! **

**Plus, if you guys leave me some reviews… maybe I'll give you a sneak peek of Skye and Austin's first day at Forks High! There's bound to be some action, that's just how I do things. So…. Thanks for reading!!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey everyone!**

**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to two special people, who've been with me this whole time and have been so supportive of my story.**

**And they are: ****PiiPSQu3aK, and twirlgirl1996!! These two are awesome, and you guys should totally check out their stories. **

**So this chapter is my longest yet, and one of my favorites. It gives a lot of insight to what I think about Alice and Jasper, who happen to be my favorite pair in the entire Cullen family, maybe because they were described the least, and there's so much mystery to their relationship. Anyway, the one thing I can promise you that will not be in this story, is a stereotypical Alice-being-obnoxiously-peppy shopping trip scene. There's so much more to her besides her love for fashion, and other stories tend to take that element of her personality and exaggerate it. Yes, Alice likes shopping, and I daresay she was described in the books of having some sort of a flair for it, but that doesn't make her an empty-headed valley girl that only talks about clothes and shoes. So therefore, I'm trying to bring out a little bit of Alice's mature side in this chapter, to hopefully remind people who think of Alice as superficial that she has so much more to her.**

**Okay, rant over :D**

**Plus, I add a little of my thoughts on Jasper, who is so intriguing to me. If you guys want more stuff about Jasper, you can check out PiiPSQu3aK's story 'The Silent View', which is Jasper's point of view on the events that happen in Twilight.**

**Sorry this author's note is so long, I guess I had a lot to say this time. Go ahead and read the chapter now :D**

The night before the first day of school, a few of us decided to hunt together so we could be as prepared as possible. Of course Austin and I went, and Jasper went too; apparently he was still paranoid after an event that had happened fifty years ago on Bella's birthday, but nobody informed me or Austin what had happened. Since then, he had hunted obsessively whenever he knew he would be in contact with humans. Whatever the case was, I didn't feel like prying; I was glad Jasper was coming, because maybe he could sooth some of my agitated nerves. And of course, wherever Jasper went, Alice went also.

The four of us set off at twilight, when the moon was beginning to glow and the sun was disappearing over the horizon in a shower of red and gold. We ran through the woods, listening to the sounds of the crickets and the rustling in the trees. Our vampire status brought us so many privileges that humans rarely ever got to experience. I thought about the beauty of our race, the fluidity with which we moved and ran, and the perfection in our dazzling features. We were proud, majestic creatures; but it all came with a heavy price. Despite that, I found I was honored to be a vampire, and I no longer resented the one who changed me.

Austin and Jasper took off when we reached a hilly area that smelled faintly of mountain lion, leaving Alice and I alone. We hunted together in near silence, both of us absorbed in our own thoughts. Sometimes I watched Alice take down deer, her spiky hair flying around her head, hands outstretched into claws, black eyes glittering. It was a side of Alice that was buried deep within her. The other members of the Cullen family had that wild side lurking beneath their carefully composed human facades, something I could perceive occasionally; a dangerous flash in Rosalie's eyes, or a delicately inflected hiss in Edward's voice when he was feeling angry. But Alice: never. Never did she show any vampire tendencies when she was acting normal, and for that reason, it was intriguing to watch her hunt: she let the vampire in her take over, and it marred her features and changed her tinkling voice to a snarl.

When both of us had had our fill, Alice jogged over to me, her eyes now butterscotch yellow, the tension in her body relaxing. We began to walk at human pace towards the direction in which Jasper and Austin had headed in, both feeling full and satisfied. We strode in silence, until I looked over at Alice, sensing that the way she was marching rigidly meant she was focused on other things. Sure enough, her legs were moving mechanically as her eyes stared off into space, into the future, seeing things that were yet to come. I didn't want to snap her out of it, because I figured she was checking on Jasper's future of how he would do tomorrow; fifty years, and she still always got anxious for him.

In a minute or two, Alice's eyes refocused and she gave her head a tiny shake, plastering a strained smile on her lips whenever she had just seen something particularly unpleasant. I said a quiet prayer for Jasper, to whom, I had no idea, but I just wanted him to be all right. He was such a genuinely remarkable person, and I sympathized with the struggles he went through. I hoped what Alice had seen wasn't too horrible… then something hit me, and I turned to Alice, watching the fake smile on her lips crack when I addressed her.

"Alice?"

"Yeah?" She tried to sound casual, but at the same time, we both knew she had just had a vision. There was no point denying it.

"When you look in tomorrow's future… if you see anything about Austin or I… please don't tell me, okay?"

She looked startled and confused by my request, giving me a look that told me she had been expecting the exact opposite. "But why?"

"It's hard to explain." I wasn't sure if I could make my point without sounding completely mental. "I guess, I just want to know going in there, that I have a choice, that we both do. I don't want our fates to be sealed because we knew them ahead of time. If I were to know beforehand that everything would turn out okay, Austin and I might be lax about keeping our defenses up, and then something could happen, something you hadn't predicted. And if it turns out badly… well, frankly, I don't wanna have to think about that all night."

Alice was quiet as we strolled through the trees. We had been out for over an hour, and now the darkness was closing in upon the forest in earnest; the gloom of the woods was inky and shadowy, and the tiniest rustling of twigs was multiplied tenfold in my vampire ears.

"I think I know what you mean." She sounded thoughtful… and a little sad too. "Sometimes, believe it or not, I wish I couldn't see the future. It goes against nature; no one should know what's coming in the future. It makes me worry when I see that bad things will happen, and nobody can ever surprise me when good things are going to happen. But then, at the times when I can't tell what the future will be, sometimes those are the occasions when I feel most normal. It gives me an almost blissful feeling; to know that the future doesn't depend on me."

I thought about what Alice revealed to me, and for the first time, I began to see the negative side to having her ability. I couldn't imagine knowing what was to come, all the time. I wondered if she ever found it hard to live in the moment, when she could always be looking to the future for the next event. I wondered if I would be able to handle the pressure of sharing her insight; it could be convenient at times, but the rest of the family took her for granted. Alice's gift couldn't possibly be easy to live with, and I doubted whether Alice would even call it a 'gift'.

I decided that sometimes everyone, including her own family, forgot how much quiet contemplation lurked beneath Alice's surface. She always seemed peppy and optimistic, and I think even the Cullen's often thought of her as slightly superficial, assuming she was always thinking of her next shopping trip. Alice's feelings ran so much deeper than that, and possibly Edward was the only one who truly understood her, being that he could read her mind.

"Thanks, Alice." I didn't know how to communicate the sudden appreciation I felt for her, so I tried to put as much emotion into the hug I gave her as I could. We broke apart and kept walking, until I could hear Jasper and Austin laughing in the distance. Alice still looked worried, but whatever she was thinking about, she didn't share it with me. Keeping in mind the request I had just made of her, I was unsure of whether her silence was good or bad.

Just then, Jasper and Austin breezed through the trees towards us, looking at each other and laughing, their matching topaz eyes glowing in the half-light. Their windblown hair settled around their faces, but their smiles faltered as they looked at mine and Alice's twin expressions of worry.

"Alice, what's wrong?' In a flash, Jasper had his arms around Alice, who once again had her false smile stretched across her face, though when she looked towards Austin, a trickle of fear showed. Austin had moved just as quickly towards me, and he now held both my hands in his, looking at me with troubled eyes.

"Nothing!" Alice grinned even more widely; I was really getting anxious now. Austin's eyes flashed over to Alice. "Really, Jasper," she pleaded. "It's fine." She turned toward Austin, fixing him with a smaller smile, one that looked a lot less forced. "Wanna tree-race back?"

He grinned, apparently mollified by her seemingly heartfelt denial that anything was wrong, and swiftly kissed my forehead before launching himself into a nearby tree. He began to leap from branch to branch and Alice followed him, her tinkling laughter echoing across the swaying treetops.

Jasper gave me a nervous smile, and suddenly I felt a wave of concern that was not unlike mine, but felt different, alien. However, just as soon as it had come on, it disappeared, leaving me to my own uneasy thoughts. I realized that must have been Jasper's emotions spilling over into mine; he was usually so good at controlling them. I felt a surge of affection for Jasper that was completely and genuinely my own, and I walked to his side.

"You worried about her?" I asked him, just to break the tension. He nodded, with the appearance of holding back his thoughts from being voiced aloud. I bumped into him in a friendly way and gave him my most reassuring smile. "C'mon, you know Alice. She's tough. She'll be alright." My words sounded empty, and I hope Jasper wasn't put off by my weak attempt to comfort him. He smiled though, reminding me so much of Austin in the way his lips curved up playfully and his topaz eyes seemed to shine beneath his cute blonde curls that fell across his forehead. Jasper and Austin truly looked like they could be brothers.

Immediately I began to think of the expression on Alice's face when she had looked towards Austin, and I felt panicky. What if asking Alice to not tell me about the future would have disastrous consequences? What if Austin couldn't control himself and he hurt a human? That would destroy Austin, who was so compassionate, it had been he who suggested we first hunted animals instead of people, and it was he who was terribly worried for the fate of the Macready's that day we broke into their house. If he ever harmed a human, the guilt and grief it caused him would be unbearable. And it would all be my fault, because I had asked Alice not to look into our fates.

"You love him don't you?" Jasper's quiet voice broke the night air and I started, but it was nothing compare to the surprise I felt at the nature of his question. He looked at me with understanding, and I realized he must have been reading my emotions right off me as I thought about Austin. I was horribly embarrassed, so I just looked away from his scorching eyes and nodded towards nothing in particular.

"Don't be embarrassed." There he goes again. "I won't tell anyone, especially Austin, if you don't want me to."

"Thanks, Jasper." Out of all the Cullens, sometimes I felt that I could be the most like my true self around Jasper. We never got to spend much time together, but I always admired him, for being so brave and determined when it came to adhering to our vegetarian ways, especially given his past. He knew what it felt like to be considered the weakest link of the family, which was what Austin and I often experienced. It couldn't have been easy for Jasper, making that transition, and I think he kept his pain all bottled up, not wanting to show that things were hard for him. To a stranger, he could seem solemn, even austere at times, but there was a great deal of hidden emotions beneath the surface. It was ironic to me that the boy who was so conscious of everyone else's emotions rarely ever showed his own.

Silently we started walking together back towards the Cullens' house, following Alice and Austin who were way far ahead by now. The heavy darkness of the forest would have obscured the trees had it not been for our vampire sight, and even with that, I could tell how gloomy it was by the deep shadows all around us. Each time we passed under a tree, moonlight filtered through the canopy of leaves and lit up Jasper's honey blonde hair, making it shine. The muted gleam of his hair as he walked next to me reminded me so much of the nights Austin and I had spent together, patrolling the woods, before we ever came to Forks. Seeing that out of the corner of my eye was so familiar to me that when Jasper spoke, I half-expected it to be in Austin's voice.

"Are you worried? About school tomorrow?"

I contemplated before I answered. "I can't tell who I'm more worried for, me or Austin. Of course, I know he's so much stronger than I am, in terms of being able to resist human blood. But he also doubts himself, and that can be dangerous; he gets very discouraged when he thinks he can't do something, and then he usually can't."

"You seem to know him well," Jasper mused, and I laughed.

"Well I should, we spent almost five months in the woods together, just the two of us. What was there to do besides get to know each other?"

"That's true." He smiled, then his face turned serious. "Skye, don't mistrust yourself. I know you'll be okay; you have even more willpower than I had when I first started at a human school, and I was fine." He hesitated, grimacing slightly. "For the most part."

That made me nervous. "What do you mean, 'for the most part'?"

He seemed to regret adding in that last fragment of thought, but nevertheless, he answered, "I'm not going to lie to you. It's the most excruciating pain you will ever feel, being close to humans when your thirst is so strong. You will always have that burn of the venom in your throat, and sometimes it seems downright impossible to ignore, or to push aside. Scary things will run through your mind when you're in a room full of humans, and the pulsing of their blood is like a metronome that strikes pain in your throat with each beat. Sometimes, you can become afraid of even yourself; it's when the monster in us rises to the surface the most."

I knew Jasper was telling me this for my own good, but at this point, I was officially petrified. I tried to separate out my thoughts, and I decided that it was better to know ahead of time than to find out the hard way. However that didn't make the truth any easier to swallow.

Jasper did not apologize for scaring me, and he didn't try to pretend that the pain was bearable, which I was thankful for. Instead he just kept walking along next to me, giving me the time I needed to marshal my thoughts and compose a reaction.

"Thank you for telling me all that." I finally said, hoping my voice didn't betray any of the panic that was clogging my mind. Then I remembered that Jasper was probably picking up on the waves of dread that were rolling off me right now, and there was no use pretending. But, for my sake I suppose, if he knew how frightened I was, he didn't say anything.

We reached the house, and I immediately spotted Austin and Alice hanging out of two huge pine trees in the backyard, laughing and swinging back and forth. I laughed myself, just looking at the joyous expression on Austin's face. If he was nervous thinking about tomorrow, then he wasn't showing it at all. I wish I had half his courage.

We walked into the house together, and Esme glanced up from where she was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a book.

"Only a few more hours," she said softly, as Alice and Jasper went into the living room. She smiled at Austin and I, and I tried to smile back, but it probably came out more like a grimace. Austin took my hand and led me upstairs, where all there was left to do was sit and wait for the morning to come.

**Please let me know if you guys like what I said about Alice and Jasper, the way I described them. These are just my views on them, how I would describe them if I had the privilege to get to know them. But they are not by any means the only view out there, so in your reviews, maybe you guys could give me some of your thoughts?**

**Also, feel free to check out my best friend's stories, her account name is DrivesLikeACullen. She has a really spectacular writing style, and a gripping story. **

**Thanks guys, and make sure to leave me a nice little review! :D**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey dudes!**

**So, first off, thanks to everyone who has stuck by my story this long, you all rock!**

**Especially my favorite girls: ****PiiPSQu3aK, ****twirlgirl1996, and DrivesLikeACullen!**

**So there's lots of action in this chapter, and a couple of big shocks coming up. Please feel free to tell me in a nice lil review what you liked or didn't like about this chapter, where you could see the story going from here, whatnot. **

**Also, to all you people who subscribed to this story, I wanna know what you have to say! It's easy to leave a review, even the short and simple ones make my day. Just copy and paste, say, your favorite line from this chapter in a review. I just need more feedback as to what SPECIFICALLY my readers like to see in my writing. **

**Thanks so much, you guys really rule 3**

**Oh and by the way, I don't own Twilight, but I do own a labradoodle named Puppy, does that count? (;**

The sun emerged from beyond the horizon, and I watched through my window as it filled the sky with pink and blue light. Austin put his hand on my shoulder, and we both turned away from the sunrise, so that we could get ready for the day ahead of us.

I knew what it was like to have to start over in a new school; I had moved at the end of my freshman year, and was the new kid my sophomore year. But that time, everyone else in the school hadn't been in mortal danger when I showed up.

Austin left my room, crossing the hallway into his room and closing the door behind him. We had spent the whole night just sitting on my bed, talking some, but mostly just thinking to ourselves. Our silence was enough for us; we didn't need any words to fill up the quiet. It just calmed me to listen to Austin's undulating breaths, in and out, like waves on a shore, as we sat together in the darkness thinking the same anxious thoughts.

I picked out a pair of dark jeans to wear, and a simple gray tank top that had lace around the top and bottom. I dressed up the outfit with a long necklace that had beads in dark hues of navy, green and gray.

It was hard to believe that it had only been a little more than a month and a half since Austin and I had snuck into the Macready's house and set out on our journey to Forks, and here we were already, starting school.

I met Austin in the hallway; he wore dark jeans as well, and a simple ivory t-shirt that hugged the muscles in his chest. It would be interesting, or maybe irritating would be the better word, to see what the other girls at school thought of him; after all, he _was_ dazzlingly beautiful. With a pang of unwarranted jealousy, I thought of what would happen if a girl at school caught Austin's eye. My feelings for him were so new, and I was still very insecure; I didn't think my self-esteem could handle it if he decided he liked a human girl.

I didn't voice any of my thoughts out loud, but allowed Austin to take my hand and lead me out to the garage to Edward's silver Volvo. We slid in the backseat with our book bags and tried not to interrupt as Bella and Edward chatted in the front of the car as we drove.

All too soon, we arrived in front of Forks High School, and I glanced at Austin. His face looked petrified, almost as if the prospect of facing a school full of humans hadn't been real to him until we were actually about to do it. I took his hand silently, and stared out through the rain-washed window as Edward parked the car. The teenagers here didn't seem to be intimidated by the rain; instead, they pulled up their hoods and remained chatting with each other, leaning against cars and laughing.

Rosalie pulled up next to us, and the rest of the family stepped out of her car. Austin opened his door and in a flash had circled the car and was opening mine for me. Edward looked shocked, and hissed at Austin as his eyes swept the area around us, "Do_ try_ to refrain from being so careless in front of the humans."

Austin shrugged him off, but a muscle in his jaw twitched as he helped me out of the backseat. Edward rolled his eyes and placed his arm around Bella's shoulder as they took off towards a distant building of the school.

Emmett bounded over to us, grinning, and boomed: "Alright, first day! You guys psyched or what?"

Austin laughed. "Yeah, I guess so." I just nodded vaguely and scanned the parking lot, with all the humans streaming from their cars.

Emmett noticed my absentmindedness and said, "Don't worry, sis. You guys'll be fine." I glanced back at him, momentarily caught off guard. It was the first time he had ever called me 'sis' the way I heard him refer to Bella or Alice. It was a small gesture on his part, but inwardly, I felt that it was Emmett's way of stating how accepted I was. For a fleeting moment I had the urge to hug him; I was so grateful for his small act of kindness.

Before I could act on that particular impulse Rae came over and took my hand, leading Austin and I to the main building in front of the school. "The office is just in here, they'll help you get sorted out with your schedules and all." She gave us both a huge dimpled smile and then added, "Have a good day you guys. See you at lunch, okay?"

She flounced off to another building of the school, in which I suspected was her homeroom, leaving Austin and I standing under the awning on the gray cement sidewalk. Austin raised his eyebrows and said, "Well, let's go in, shall we?"

He held the door open for me and, suddenly aware that I hadn't spoken a word all morning, I said, "Thanks."

As soon as I stepped inside, the smell of fresh blood hit me with such force it felt like a physical barrier. It was hard to override the impulse to breathe, but I managed to stop inhaling. Venom pooled in the back of my throat, which I tried unsuccessfully to swallow. Austin had a pained expression on his face, but was working hard to control his reactions like I was. My acute senses picked up on each heartbeat in the hallway, the pulsing in the necks of the students. Around us were maybe twenty teenagers, walking around, opening their lockers, and sharing summer news. Their voices were magnified tenfold in my sensitive ears, but even through that, I could hear the drumming of their hearts; a range of different beats, each with its own rhythm and owner. Surreptitiously, I closed my eyes and inhaled, willing myself to withstand the temptation. I flinched when the combined scent hit me, like it had been something solid that accosted and heightened every nerve in my body. The students' aromas encircled me, begging me to succumb to the pull of their blood-filled veins. With an impossible amount of effort, I forced myself to swallow the venom that had flooded into my mouth, and to stop breathing again. Only half a second had passed since I had stepped inside the door.

Austin and I grimaced at each other, and then stepped into the throng of students. Walking down the hallway at human pace seemed agonizingly time-consuming, and I hated to think of what my distressed face must look like to my fellow classmates. Austin and I crossed the hallway, towards a door that had the word 'Office' printed on it. Just before we reached it, a boy with short black hair walked close next to us, meeting Austin's eyes for a fraction of a second. Austin froze, and his gaze followed the boy as he moved off down the hall, hitching his backpack up over his shoulder.

"Something… something just happened, Skye." I gripped his forearm with unnecessary force, trying desperately to get him to at least move into the safety of the office, where there weren't so many people around.

"C'mon, let's just go in---"

"No." Austin still stared down the hallway after the boy, who had now disappeared. His eyes raked over the other students, searching for something, but for what, I couldn't possibly even fathom. A realization came to me, and the icy hand of fear gripped me; was he selecting a victim? I redoubled my efforts to drag him just those two more feet to the shelter of the office, feeling desperate now. Finally, Austin stumbled forward, and his eyes met mine, confusion etched across his face. He began to whisper rapidly to me, barely moving his lips so that the humans around us couldn't hear.

"That kid… he's going to be a mind-reader, like Edward. I mean, if he was to be turned into a vampire, that is. And that girl over there," he pointed to a girl crouched in front of her locker gathering books, flipping her long dirty blonde hair over her shoulder. "She'd be able to alter memories, to erase someone's recollections just by reaching inside their head with her mind." Austin had that all-too-familiar look of anticipation on his face, the one that usually made me smile inwardly at how adorable he was. But right now, when the smell of human blood was still accosting my senses, I couldn't focus much on what he was telling me.

"Skye, are you listening?" he whispered, widening his eyes to emphasize the fact that the discovery he just made was obviously worth my full, undivided attention. "Skye!"

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed loudly, eliciting looks from passing students on their way to homeroom.

Austin recoiled, clearly insulted. I huffed out a breath, still acutely aware of the heartbeats all around me that were filling my ears like the pounding of drums. I closed my eyes, already regretting snapping at Austin.

"Yes, Austin? What is it?" I was still anxious to get inside the office, where hopefully there would be less temptation than out here in the swarming hallway.

He looked smug, having received the level of consideration he felt he deserved. This expression on his face strangely made me want to smile; it was so utterly familiar, and I was beginning to associate Austin with comfort.

His voice dropped back down to a barely audible whisper, and his topaz eyes gleamed with excitement. "Not only can I see what vampire's powers are just by looking at them, but I can also tell what a human's special ability would be if they were changed!" He frowned slightly, and glanced over my shoulder at a group of guys, laughing obnoxiously in front of a stretch of lockers. "On most of the students, I just draw a blank though. Guess that means they'd just be a regular vampire, you think? Like Emmett, or Rosalie, with no specific gift."

I contemplated what he said, and then grinned at him to show my amazement. Austin's dual talents had the potential to be extremely useful. I was angry however that I couldn't bring myself to concentrate on him for more than a few seconds at a time; the aroma of blood filled the air around us, so tantalizingly sweet, and I couldn't imagine how Austin could resist it so thoroughly.

His strength of will didn't last long though; as soon as he breathed in again, he froze, and I could smell the venom in his mouth, since we were standing so close together. It seemed he had only been able to resist the smell of the humans because he had been so thoroughly shocked by his discovery of yet another special gift that he had.

Our eyes met, and we both bolted for the office door, anxious to get out of the hallway. Austin flung the door open with unnecessary force, and we both stepped inside.

I realized belatedly how foolish of us it was to expect that being in the office would be an improvement over the corridor; it was impossibly warm and stuffy in here, the scent of the receptionist's blood having permeated every corner of the room.

She seemed very welcoming; she had a full, kind face, and she smiled at us when we walked in cautiously. I swallowed the venom in my mouth for the third time and forced myself to look away from the throbbing vein in her neck.

Austin and I approached the front desk warily, and we both smiled, in an attempt to calm ourselves down. She seemed slightly flustered at this, and her plump cheeks reddened. She glanced down at the stacks of paperwork on her desk, and seemed to have regained her composure when she looked back up at us.

"And you two must be Skye Grey and Austin Daniels, our new students this year," she said encouragingly, and we both nodded in affirmation. She shifted around the copious amounts of paperwork that were stacked on her desktop and finally located our twin folders. "There you are, everything will be explained in there for you. Your schedules are right on top, and there's some other information about what you can expect at Forks High." She smiled warmly again, and Austin and I muttered our thanks and turned anxiously to leave.

We both glanced curiously inside the manila folders to check our schedules as we strode back to the door of the office. Then we looked at each other and said at the same time: "Latin One, first period?"

We both grinned, and I was momentarily overjoyed to know I would at least be starting out my day with Austin close to me, for moral support.

When Austin opened the door, thirty different scents accosted me, but it was almost better than being trapped in the enclosed office; at least out here, there were plenty of other smells to dilute the scent of blood in the air.

As we made our way down the hallway, we held our folders opened in front of us, comparing our schedules, and tried to locate on the map the building that housed Latin One. We figured out it was not in the building we were currently inside; we'd have to trek across the campus to get to the correct one. I barely registered the stares of the passing students as Austin and I became absorbed in our own conversation; it was easier to ignore the temptations around us if we had something else, something more lighthearted, to focus our attention upon.

As we neared the end of the hallway, I glimpsed a red-headed girl and her friend coming towards us on the other side of the glass door, chatting away amicably. Emmett and Jasper, both looking anxious, were coming up behind the girl and her friend, who were now opening the door to enter the building.

The moment Austin looked at the girl, he froze, and his eyes narrowed as he shuddered almost imperceptibly. With a whoosh, she opened the door and a chilly wind from outside blew in behind her, making her gingery hair fly around her face.

There was a fraction of a second during which I glanced at Austin and knew something was very, very wrong.

Then, quite suddenly and without warning, Austin lunged towards her, his hands outstretched like claws, his snarls rippling through the hallway. The girl barely had time to register him flying towards her before I reacted instinctively, and not a second too late; I materialized a barrier right in front of Austin's path, and he crumpled against it with a roar.

Emmett and Jasper pushed past the horror-struck girl and her friend, and edged around my barrier, coming to haul the still growling Austin off the floor. His eyes were wild, feral; Emmett and Jasper had to restrain his arms as he continued to fight, staring with bloodlust in his eyes at the red-headed girl who now looked to be on the verge of passing out. I had never before been so frightened, not the day I was changed, not the day I fought Roland, not even the day the wolves had broken through my shield. I stood, quite literally frozen with shock and fear, in the exact spot I had been standing with Austin a moment before, my hand still outstretched from when I had cast the shield.

Jasper's calm, commanding tone broke me out of my state of numb devastation. "Skye, could you help Kelsey and her friend outside please?" His eyes connected with mine, and I found the briefest glimmer of familiarity in his topaz eyes and golden hair. I tried to imagine him as a more normal, tamed Austin; the waves of shock kept crashing over my brain, willing me to believe that this was not happening, this could not have happened. Everything I had been afraid of, everything Austin had been afraid of, had just transpired, and in front of at least thirty witnesses. Suddenly I felt like I was going to suffocate from the devastation of the entire occurrence; I started to gasp, sending fire down my throat every time I breathed in the smell of the surrounding humans, and my hands clutched at my head in desperation.

I looked to Jasper, pleading at him with my eyes. Immediately I felt calmer, more collected, and I knew it was Jasper using his influence on me. But beneath the surface of my composure, I could feel, like boiling water beneath the lid of a pot, my intense horror threatening to break through.

I forced my legs to move towards the door, where Kelsey and her friend were staring at the struggling Austin like they were afraid for their lives. I edged around the barrier I had created which was now almost like a source of comfort to me, something steady that I could hold onto and retain when everything else was crashing down around me.

Without a word I took Kelsey and her friend and dragged them outside, pulling them down the sidewalk. The two of them shuddered at my cold touch and strained their necks to look behind us as I marched them around the side of the building. I could feel their blood pulsing beneath their fragile skin in the spots where I was holding onto them, but it was like my mind was removed from my body; my thirst could not compete with the fact that my brain was filled with the image of Austin's attack, and that thought made me hardly thirsty any more. I deposited the girls next to a skinny, forlorn-looking tree, and stated simply, "Stay." My voice sounded dead of emotion, but right now, I could hardly register that.

I circled back around the building and found Emmett and Jasper still restraining Austin forcefully, though he was struggling a lot less now that the source of his frenzy had been removed from his line of sight. I followed them wordlessly to Edward's car, and they shoved Austin in the backseat, allowing me to climb in after him. They got in the front seats and locked the doors, then peeled out of the school parking lot at an enormous speed. The last glimpse I had of Forks High was the front doors of the main office building being thrown open and a crowd of stunned kids pushing their way through, following our retreating silver Volvo with their bewildered gazes.

The muscles in my body were completely tensed up and I sat next to Austin, who was now breathing heavily but otherwise composed, feeling like a coiled spring ready to explode at any moment. Austin leaned his head again the back of his seat and closed his eyes, a look of pain on his face.

When he opened his eyes, they were no longer wild-looking; they were the same butterscotch shade I always remembered, but they were frightened, an emotion I didn't often see in Austin's eyes.

"Oh my god… oh my god…" Austin's voice broke, as if the strain of accepting what had just happened was too much for him. I silently took his hand and grasped it tightly with my own, needing to feel like I had something substantial to hold onto, and wanting Austin to feel the same.

He laid his head on my shoulder and I smoothed his blonde curls with the hand that was not clutching his, but I turned my attention to Jasper in the front seat.

"Jasper, what happened?" My voice was still deadpan, and I could still feel my roiling emotions seething beneath the surface of the fake calm spell he had placed on me.

He didn't answer right away, so I waited, still stroking Austin's hair; I trusted Jasper to tell me the truth, as I knew he would.

"Kelsey is Austin's _tua cantante_."

**GASP!!!**

**Teehee, I wonder if any of you saw that coming? In any case, leave me review with your thoughts, even if you hated this chapter :D I still wanna know.**

**ANNNND!!! I am now going to change my icon in my profile to a picture of a boy that I picture every time I write about Austin, so you guys can see what he's supposed to look like. However, if you have your own image of Austin in your head and don't want it to be changed, then simply don't look at my profile. Hahahah but whoever does look, send me a PM, will ya? I want to know what you guys think of my Austin.**

**I have one more major surprise for you guys, and that'll come out in the next chapter or two, I promise, so stay tuned. Also, you can look forward to a really nice romantic scene with Austin and Skye, coming up in the next chapter (I think). **

**But in the meantime, hit that little green button down there and REVIEW! **

**I promise I'll love you forever if you do! (;**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey guys!**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been away a lot this summer.**

**So, this is sort of a filler chapter, but I also think it's important to the story because it goes a little deeper into Austin and Skye's relationship, which we all know is going to be tested very soon because of Austin finding his **_**tua cantante**_**.**

**Anyway, I promise I'll work on the next chapter to give you guys some answers and possibly (keep your fingers crossed) have it up by this weekend??**

Austin shuddered when the car came to a stop in front of the Cullens' house, his head still resting on my shoulder. Jasper came around to the back in the blink of an eye and held the door open. I held firmly to Austin's hand and helped him out of the car, knowing that he needed to maintain contact with me to help him from mentally falling apart at the seams. As it was, Austin was still acting strange: he was looking around nervously like an animal caught in a cage, and he twitched involuntarily every few seconds, shaking his head and tapping his fingers.

Emmett ran to the house and Jasper turned to follow, but caught my eye before he took off. He nodded towards the woods and said simply, "Go."

We didn't need to be told twice; Austin and I took off into the forest, running faster that we've ever sprinted before, still holding hands. We were just blurs of color in the pale light of the woods. I felt like everything in the forest should be dark and shadowed by now; this day had seemed to last forever, but of course, it was still just after sunrise. I had aged many years in one morning.

We never tired of running; we just kept moving, feeling the earth fly beneath our feet, watching the details of small leaves from nearby trees swoop close and then dart past us. Running through a forest of silent trees was therapeutic for us; I listened to the small sounds of the forest, to the whoosh of air as we sped towards nowhere. Our hands still clasped together, Austin and I began breathing in time with each other: in and out, in and out, until it was like we were one being, sharing in our pain and need to feel close to each other.

The forest was our place; it was where we had forged a friendship, started a new life, shared our deepest secrets. We were drawn to the forest because it reminded us of each other, of the comfort of having someone who knew you so well be with you in a familiar place. In a way, the forest was our friend, as well. In this moment, we needed the trees to encircle us and bring us to someplace we could come together and help each other heal.

Finally, we came to a small clearing, and we both intuitively slowed down in the center. I glanced at Austin and watched his blonde curls settle around his perfect face, trying to think of what I could say that would even possible help him.

Without a word Austin slipped his arms around me and kissed me forcefully on the mouth. I felt my eyes flutter closed and I immediately relaxed in his arms; I hadn't even realized how tense I was. Suddenly, thunder ripped the sky apart above us, and rain fell hard through the trees as lightning illuminated the inside of my eyelids. Austin never broke the kiss, but simply drew me closer to him, tightening his arms around my waist. My hands found his hair, and his hands rested on the sliver of pale skin between my shirt and jeans.

My lips opened beneath his and our kiss deepened, his tongue sliding gently into my mouth. My head was buzzing, and everywhere our bodies touched was tingling pleasantly. I threw myself into the wonder of the kiss, latching subconsciously onto the elements that would distract me from thinking about the scene at the school: the way Austin's lips felt as they moved against mine, the downy softness of his beautiful blonde curls beneath my hands, the tantalizing way his fingers traced circles on my sensitive skin. Austin moaned and then, without warning, moved his hand down to my thigh, hitching my leg up so that we pressed more closely together in all the right places. Fiery passion surged down my arms and legs, burning intensely under the contrasting coldness of my skin.

My eyes flew open with shock and Austin seemed to sense my astonishment, and pulled away. I let out a little whimper as our lips were wrenched apart and Austin's hands left my waist; the skin there prickled, still craving his touch. Austin was leaning with his back against a tree on the other side of the small clearing, still facing me. His eyes were closed, and he shook his head and groaned.

"Sorry," he whispered, finally opening his eyes, which I saw now were a dark ocher color, despite us having fed not even twelve hours ago. I shivered, but not from the cold rain that had begun to slide down my arms.

"That's okay," I whispered back, feeling embarrassed, excited, nervous, and scared all at the same time. I closed my eyes again, to give myself a chance to collect my scrambled thoughts.

My brain seemed to be having trouble convincing my body not to fling itself back into Austin's arms and kiss him passionately again. I had never experienced a sensation like what I had just felt: a sizzling fire that ignited my heart and my granite-cold skin. It was almost enough to completely distract me from the images that had been burned into my mind: Austin lunging through the air in the school's hallway, Kelsey's innocent face full of terror, a heaving Jasper restraining Austin's thrashing arms. Almost, but not quite. The panic that had gripped me when Austin had almost killed a human was seething beneath the surface, and only Austin's own semi-composed nature was keeping it at bay.

The tickling in my skin evaporated slowly, and I shuddered as I opened my eyes. I walked forward to where Austin was, approaching him slowly and cautiously. His head was bent over, so I couldn't see his face, and he was shaking. I put my hands on his forearms, then slid them up his arms, across his shoulders, until I cupped his chin and brought his eyes up to meet mine.

The corners of his mouth and eyes were turned down and dry sobs broke through his lips, and it was terrible for me to watch his pain. All my panic, my fear, my horror, but also my relief, all surged up inside me and lumped in my throat, until it spilled out of me and I began to cry in earnest as well. Austin and I found each other's arms and let out our emotions together, comforted by the fact that we were at least bound together by our common fear.

I was grateful that Austin was able to release his pent-up feelings, because it allowed me to do that for myself. It would have been worse if he had stood there like a stone and stated calmly that everything would be okay, because then I would have felt like I couldn't show any of my true feelings. Austin's ability to display his sensitivity was not a weakness; it was a strength of his, something I admired that I could not possess as easily as he could. I was the type of person that let my emotions bottle inside me and found it hard to speak them aloud, for fear of being seen as vulnerable. I always had to be strong for those around me, to appear put together, to not let anything shake me, and to be the one that told others it would be okay.

But right now, the truth was, everything was most certainly _not okay_; any semblance of order in our newfound lifestyle with our newfound family had been shattered in one fell swoop, before we ever had a real chance at making it work. Austin and I both knew this, and we also knew that many problems would surface now that would ensnare the Cullens and us as well.

Finally, our breathing slowed, and both Austin and I exhaled shakily. We still clutched each other like we were the only things keeping us from tumbling off the edge of the world. I buried my head in Austin's chest, loving the feel of his cool, hard muscles beneath my forehead and the tingles that reached my toes when he stroked my hair with his hand. I loved the way I felt like he was my big protector, like he would do anything for me and care for me no matter what. His arms held me together even when I wanted to fall apart and go to pieces.

Austin pulled back a tiny bit to give me a chance to look up at him, and he smiled weakly at me. I tried to smile back, but I'm sure it came out more like a grimace. It must have, because Austin laughed a little and truly grinned, making my stomach clench uneasily but not unpleasantly. Rain dripped down our necks and faces, making it look like we truly were crying.

"Promise me something," I whispered, not ready to let go of Austin yet. I stared earnestly up into his topaz eyes, at his thick black lashes that held tiny drops of rain. His skin was flawlessly smooth and perfectly sculpted; a work of art.

"Anything." He nodded seriously, tightening his arms around my waist.

"Whatever happens," I started, then felt a lump rising in my throat, making it hard for me to talk normally around it. "Whatever happens, promise me we'll stay together."

Austin just leaned toward me and gently pressed his lips to mine, a gesture that strangely made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

He pulled away, his eyes closed, with a half smile on his lips.

"I promise."

**Sorry there's no real 'action' in this chapter except their kiss (teehee). **

**Anyway, let me know if you guys think this works, if you'd like to see more of that type if thing in the future. I just want to take it slow with them because I've read too many stories that rush the characters into relationships, and then it ends up sounding fake. And I want Austin and Skye to come off as the real deal, and that takes time. **

**In your reviews, maybe you guys could mention a favorite line or a favorite part or something you're hoping to see in future chapters? I dunno, in any case, just leave a review :D **

**Thanks xoxoxo**


	25. Chapter 25

**READ THIS, IT'S IMPORTANT, I PROMISE.**

Hey everyone! My sincerest apologies for taking an unacceptable amount of time in writing this chapter. All I can say is that I'm in my senior year of high school, applying to college and trying my darnedest not to fail physics class (I came very close but pulled through with a B!). I hope you all forgive me?

Good :) Now, so that you guys don't have to re-read anything, I'll summarize for you (since my last chapters came out… well, a very, very long time ago). Skye and Austin, the accidental vampires, are living with the Cullens, and are part of the family. Skye's power is energy fields and Austin can 'read' vampire's powers, like see what special abilities other vamps have. However on their first day of school, Austin attacked a human girl: he didn't bite her or anything, but it was a terrifying experience for everyone involved, not least of all the poor little human named Kelsey. Turns out she was Austin's _tua cantante_, so that's why he could resist the other humans until she came through the door. Poor guy.

Now, after a romantic little frolic in the woods, Skye and Austin have arrived back at the Cullens' home on the very same morning (about two hours after) Austin went mad all over Kelsey. They have to go in there and figure out what's going to happen to their family because of their mistake (remember that Skye includes herself as part of the problem because has a lot of guilt since she told Alice not to watch Austin's future, because she didn't want anyone to know if he was going to mess up: she wanted him to trust himself and his own strength).

There's your summary, but if you feel like re-reading, I suggest you read just chapter twenty-three: that's the one in which they have their first day of school, and Austin's attack is clearly described there. Some of those details come up in this chapter. Chapter twenty-four was just a little filler about their romantic time in the woods.

Enjoy, and please leave some delicious reviews, even if you only want to yell at me for being such an idiot and not updating for months :) Again, very sorry for making you wait. And this chapter is dedicated to my newest fanfiction friend, Aimsxx :D

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When we arrived back at the Cullens', it felt like we had stepped into an alternate dimension. The house looked the same as we stood outside it, now drenched from the rain, but yet there was a stillness, a tension surrounding the area; everything looked as it had before, but our lives had been turned upside down. The house hadn't changed; we had.

It was down-pouring harder than ever now; the gray sheets of driving rain had turned the morning into twilight, and the forest around the house was gloomy and dismal. I hoped with all my heart that the deteriorating weather wasn't an omen.

Austin held my hand as we walked toward the front door, and I tried not to panic. I was ashamed; of who I was, of what I did to my family, of the choices that I had made that had led to this. It was childish of me, but I wanted to go back into the woods with Austin, to pretend that we would never have to deal with this. The impulse of fight or flight was so strong that I instinctively squeezed Austin's hand tighter and slowed down my pace as we reached the front door. He turned to me and just shook his head, then pushed the door open.

There was a static stillness in the house, a tangible tension that filled the empty entranceway. Austin and I walked forward, our footsteps echoing hollowly through the deathly silent rooms.

We found the Cullens in the living room, all seated quietly on the chairs and couches. They didn't speak, but they looked around at us as we came in, all except for Rae, who was turned away, watching the television on mute. I was grateful to her; it was difficult to meet anyone's eyes in this room, and I was glad she was turned away, staring determinedly at the news.

Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Austin and I stood awkwardly in the doorframe of the living room, trying not to catch any eyes, and trying not to look as ashamed as we felt. I could only imagine how guilty Austin must feel, since I was feeling pretty terrible and it hadn't even been me who had lost control. My own guilt stemmed from the fact that I had specifically asked Alice not to warn us if she knew anything was going to happen. If I hadn't been so selfish and over-confident, I could've stopped Austin sooner.

Suddenly, I realized why Jasper and Emmett had been rushing towards our building, right before Austin's attack. Alice must have seen something coming and told them to watch over us. So, she had known something would happen, but just hadn't been sure exactly what it was. I glanced at Edward and he nodded his head sadly, confirming the thoughts in my mind.

Each second ticked by, stretching into silence, filling the living room like a thick fog. I stared at the weather forecast on the screen: rain every day this week, and tonight was going to be the worst storm yet. Bleakly, I thought of how unfortunate it was that Austin and I would probably begin our trek of shame back across the country tonight in a terrible storm.

"We'll have to leave, won't we? All of us?" It was Rosalie who spoke, her eyes cold and her tone detached. Emmett put his arm around her shoulder, but she continued to stare at Carlisle.

"Not necessarily," Carlisle said uncomfortably, shifting his eyes back and forth between his wife and where Austin and I stood.

"What he means is that the _rest_ of us didn't go mad today at school," said Bella, staring at Austin pointedly. Carlisle had put it in a better way, but clearly Bella had struck the meaning of what he said.

"Bella," Edward spoke softly, laying his hand lightly on her leg, but she still stared firmly at us, separating us from her family. My throat tightened and I looked away.

"No, she's right," Austin conceded. "I'm the one who caused the trouble, not the rest of you. I'll leave. Just… give me a few minutes." He cast his eyes downward, and Bella looked away, clearly a little embarrassed, but still unyielding.

Austin made to go upstairs when Jasper spoke. "It's not his fault." The whole family turned to him, and he folded his hands in his lap, leaning forward so that his blonde curls fell across his forehead. He still reminded me so much of Austin sometimes. "I know what it's like: I can remember better than most of you. And you, Edward: you should understand as well." Edward nodded bravely, and pulled his wife closer to him.

Jasper walked across the room, breaching the border between the family and the outsiders, and faced Austin directly. They were the exact same height, with the same blonde ringlets, and matching expressions on their faces; they could be brothers.

Jasper turned and stood with us, and a strange feeling coursed through me when I realized he was on our side. It made me feel as if we were not so alone after all; _someone_ understood.

"Maybe there's something we can work out. Austin, obviously, cannot go back to school with his _tua cantante_ in such close proximity. We could, perhaps, offer her… a choice."

There was absolute stillness in the room.

"Insanity," Rosalie hissed. "You would condemn an innocent girl, just to keep_ them_ here?"

"I was merely offering---" Jasper began, but Austin cut him off.

"We can't," Everyone turned to him, and Bella and Rosalie narrowed their eyes. "Rosalie's right; that would be very wrong. Besides, one thing I do remember registering before I went mad… it feels so long ago… but I remember seeing her special ability, right before I attacked her."

"What do you mean Austin?" Alice had not spoken yet, so her question caught most of the room off guard. I had almost forgotten about her, sitting on the end of the couch next to her husband's vacant seat.

"When Skye and I were in the hall, it was my first encounter with a large number of regular humans. That's why I'd never known before: not only can I read what abilities vampires have, but I can read what humans' special gifts would be, if they were to be changed."

The room went still; Carlisle looked stunned, Alice bemused, Emmett was grinning, Rae was still staring resolutely at the television, and the rest were just looking unsure of what to say or do.

"I've never heard of such an ability, not in all my years," Carlisle marveled. Austin grinned at him, clearly proud. "Tell me: what did you see for your _tua cantante_?"

Austin's face fell, and I got a sinking feeling in my stomach as he whispered, "She will have Jane's abilities, but perhaps even more powerful."

"Well, that rules that out, doesn't it?" Jasper said briskly, determined to figure out a solution to our monstrous problem. "We absolutely can't attempt to bring that upon ourselves, the risk of her finding favor with the Volturi would be too great. We'll just have to think of something---"

"Oh my god." Rae had finally spoken from her seat near the television. She glanced back urgently at her family, and then pointed us to the screen. Rae turned up the volume, and the middle-aged news anchor's deep voice filled the living room.

"_The search for a missing girl and boy from a small town has been temporarily suspended; a strange discovery in the woods where they were thought to have disappeared has been made_."

The screen was suddenly covered in two giant pictures; on the left, there was my junior yearbook picture, and on the right, a snapshot of Austin in his backyard, sitting on a boulder, smiling. My stomach lurched and I glanced at Austin; his face was in shock.

The screen cut to a video of police officers and dogs swarming the woods, _my_ woods, checking every inch of the forest for clues. I thought with a pang of my parents, who were still searching for me, but would never find me.

"_After two months of searching, police have located only a few small blood samples in one area, but they continue to investigate the entire forest. No evidence has been found that would explain where either Skye Grey or Austin Brooks are at this moment."_

Austin took my hand and stared grimly at the screen. A few members of my family glanced at us and frowned sadly.

"_But about a week ago, a small pile of ashes was discovered some ways into the woods behind Austin Brooks' house. Authorities think the discovery may help them locate the missing teenagers. But, that's not the only discovery that was made."_

The screen cut from a photo of the remains of a small fire to a picture of a glove-covered policeman's hand, holding what appeared to be a thick, pure white finger, cut at the knuckle. The policeman turned it over and over in the sunlight: it gleamed in a horribly familiar way. The entire room gasped in unison, and Esme's hand covered her mouth.

"_What appears to be a human _finger _has been found among the ashes. However, it is not organic; it is not, in fact, made of any substance known to man. Originally thought to be pure white marble, the finger is three times as heavy as it should be," _they showed a picture of the tiny finger fragment on a scale, weighing five whole pounds_, "harder than diamonds_," the screen showed a man in a lab coat smashing the unyielding finger with a hammer_, " and it _sparkles_ in the sunlight. Scientists say the only substance that may be able to damage it, is more of itself_."

My chest was closing and I couldn't breathe. I knew whose finger that was.

It was Roland's.

Months ago, when Austin was changed, I had killed Roland, the vampire that had attacked Austin and I. I had torn him apart and burned the pieces, but never went back to check that each small fragment was completely destroyed. Now, because of my carelessness, humans had found---I shuddered ---Roland's forgotten, severed finger.

The horror of the situation weighed down on me, and I wished I could throw up. Instead I just closed my eyes, unable to see any more of Roland's hideous finger. But I couldn't block out the reporter's voice.

"_Scientists will look more into this fascinating discovery, and what it could possibly mean for our missing teenagers, Skye and Austin. Meanwhile, the search continues, and anyone with any additional information is encouraged to contact their local authorities immediately."_

The news went to a story about a recent visit by a movie actor to a local mall, and Rae turned off the television. Everyone turned toward Austin and I, looking utterly confused and anxious. I was frozen, unable to explain what it was I had done. Thankfully, Edward--- God bless him--- saved me the trouble and relayed to the family the appalling story that he could read from my mind as Austin and I stood holding hands.

When he was done, the entire room just sat in mute horror. Then finally, when I thought I might suffocate from the silence in the room, Carlisle stood up and stated grimly, "We need to make a plan. If word gets out about this to too many people, the Volturi will find out very quickly, and they'll come looking here, since we're close to the discovery site. If we can get back to your hometown," he nodded at Austin and I, but it was hard to make myself focus on what he was saying, "then perhaps we can distract the authorities from this find and stop the spread. The reporter was right; this substance has never been discovered or tested by humans before, and it will quickly become national news. If that happens… well, who knows what further discoveries will be made from there. If we act quickly, perhaps the Volturi---"

"Alice!" Rae yelped. Alice was staring off into space, her body rigid and her eyes unmoving; she was having a vision. The entire room held its breath until Alice shook her head and blinked.

"Alice," Jasper crossed the room and knelt in front of her, taking her tiny hand in his. "What did you see?"

She stared at him sadly, and then looked at Austin and I. I froze, knowing that the look on her face could only mean the vision had been less than pleasant.

"They know," Edward stated harshly, reading Alice's mind. "The Volturi. They're coming."

***************

Hope you guys remembered, but Roland was the vampire that had eavesdropped on Skye when she was telling a still-human Austin about vampires, so he tried to kill them both (biting and inadvertently changing Austin in the process). Skye killed Roland but she didn't do a very good job, did she? Oh well, she was alone, she didn't know.

But now we'll have to see what happens when the ferocious Volturi arrive :) promise I'll be speedier this time! I already know what's going to happen, but maybe some nice little reviews would encourage me??

Love you all 33


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